We all live in a pokemon world
by professorsassafras1
Summary: Three mysterious girls from another world are taken to the world of Pokemon for an unknown purpose. They face the struggle of love, life and pokemon battles in a quest to find their reason for being spirited away. An AU story in which several famous gym leaders and region champions are tasked with the decision to protect the world they live in or their new friends. (OCs present.)
1. Chapter 1

_Chapter One_

Penny eased her eyes open and immediately put a hand to her throbbing head. What had she done, hit her head on a _rock?_ It was killing her! She lay in the soft, squishy bed for a minute before she realized something: this was _not_ her bedroom. "What...?" She bit her lip and slowly eased herself up into a seated position. The room was decorated in dark, navy blue hues with ivory walls. Everything was meticulously in its place, it seemed, and the area was quite spacious. The bed she found herself in was huge, enough to sleep probably three people and even a child if it were necessary. She was tucked in, she noticed. Where _was_ this place? After sitting in the bed for a moment, she slipped her feet out from under the navy blankets and onto the cold tile floor; it was also navy. The door to the bedroom was cracked open and she heard a voice coming from somewhere on the other side of it. Had she been kidnapped? Her heart began to race as she carefully opened the door and peered into a short hallway. The navy tile extended into the hall and the bright room beyond and Penny did her best to creep along it without making any noise.

"Hm? What is it, buddy?" A male voice came from somewhere in the next room and Penny froze as she heard the tiny clatter of feet on the floor, more specifically _paws_. If there was a dog in here and she had been kidnapped, this dog might be aggressive. She took a step back, wondering if it would be best if she hid in that bedroom but she was unable to make such a decision as a yellow head poked itself around the corner and she found herself staring eye-to-eye with two onyx colored orbs of a bright _yellow_ dog-like creature with spiky fur. It barked and made her jump. "Jolteon?" The male voice said a word that made as little sense to Penny as the visual appearance of the animal and she scrambled backward, further intriguing the creature before her.

"N-No, stay back!" She yelped. The next instant brought a man into her view as he stood behind the animal who was sniffing at Penny's toe.

"Oh, it's you. You finally woke up." He said and ran a hand through his vibrant blond hair that was almost as spiky as the fur on his... wait _what_ had he seriously called this creature?

"W-Who are you?" Penny stammered and stood shakily in the middle of the short hallway. The man arched a brow and looked between her and his pet as he reached down to affectionately pet it.

"Surprised you don't already know me. Volkner. Sunyshore's gym leader." He ruffled the fur on his creature for a moment. "This here's Jolteon. He's the one who sniffed you out." He patted Jolteon's head and it barked.

"J-Jolteon?" She shook her head. "Jolteon's don't exist, you're insane." She bit her lip and took another step back as the man stood back to his height that was quite taller, a half-head more so, than her own.

"Are _you_ insane? There's one right in front of you. You've never seen a Jolteon before?" He folded his arms in his grey track jacket and observed her through his icy blue eyes; she was _frightened_, terrified, even.

"Of course not! You think this is _normal?!_" She shook her head again. "You said you were a _gym _leader? What is all of this, some practical joke? Because this isn't funny, _Volkner_." She attempted to lace her words with poison but her shaking was audible in her voice.

Volkner's brows knit together as he gave a heavy sigh. "Alright, alright just calm down. Seems like you hit your head. Jolteon, go lay down in the living room buddy, give me a minute here." He instructed and the creature yipped a little and trotted off, its claws clicking on the tile. Volkner turned his attention back to the shivering girl and sighed. "Okay. Now, he's gone. I didn't realize you'd be so afraid of a pokemon you'd never seen before." He shook his head a little, attempting to set some of his hair in place.

Penny's eyes widened for a moment. "Poke...mon?" She breathed the word out and this gained her another raised eyebrow from Volkner. "That thing isn't a pokemon, pokemon don't exist." She said, looking wild-eyed at him.

"Clearly they do. Listen, are you alright? Maybe I should've taken you to the hospital instead of bringing you home with me." He frowned as he thought aloud, scratching his chin.

_Rai-rai...?_ A small, scratchy voice at the end of the hallway caught their attention and Penny almost screamed: there, where she'd first laid eyes on the 'Jolteon' before, stood a two-foot pudgy orange and yellow mouse-like creature with large pointy black ears.

"It's alright, she's just scared, Raichu." Volkner said, glancing back at the little creature, whose nose was wiggling around in the air as he sniffed about.

"Raichu...?" Penny mumbled and stared at the creature as it blinked its sparkling black eyes at her.

_Rai!_ It chittered happily and hopped a little toward her.

Penny yelped and stumbled backward, shaking her head. "No, w-wait, stay back!" She whimpered, her eyes suddenly filling with tears.

Volkner observed this reaction with grave concern and held a hand up to stop his Raichu. "Hold on, Raichu. I don't... think she wants to play with you right now. Go find Jolteon." He said and walked over to the whimpering girl. "Come on, I think we need to go to the hospital." He was surprised when she latched on to his arm with a tiny nod. "It'll be okay... just come on." He awkwardly patted her head and swallowed hard; this was the _strangest_ girl he'd ever met before.

〜〜〜

"Where is everybody?" Penny's voice rang through his penthouse and she heard the skittering of paws on the tile. This time, however, that sound made her smile. Penny had been with Volkner in his penthouse above Sunyshore Gym for three days and over the course of those three days, she'd learned that she was _not_ insane and neither was Volkner: she was now living in the world of pokemon. The hospital had confirmed that she was completely healthy and Volkner chose to conceal the fact that he'd found her unconscious on the beach from her until they returned home afterward. He learned that she came from a world where pokemon did not exist in the flesh, but merely as fun, cartoon versions of the real things. The two of them had had a discussion over dinner of whether the creators of pokemon in her world had somehow visited _his_ world and that was how the knowledge had passed on to where she lived. Finding the occurrence so completely bizarre, Volkner decided to call in a few friends to see if they'd ever heard of a person coming from another world before: the pokemon G-Men. The G-Men was an organization that operated like a secret, undercover government body to fight crime, terrorism and solve mysteries of the pokemon world to better protect the people and pokemon that lived there. Volkner, he informed Penny, was part of an elite group of men who served right under the field commander, a man by the name of Lance. Because of the information Penny knew from _her _world, she miraculously knew the names of all of Volkner's friends and had a vast working knowledge of pokemon as well. Unbeknownst to Penny, Volkner and his team had _also_ discussed the possibility of Penny's possessing her own pokemon to look after in order to help her acclimate better to living in this world while they all attempted to figure out how and why she'd come to live there.

_Jolt!_ Jolteon yipped at her as she entered the living room and scurried over to her.

"Hey, handsome." She giggled and kneeled, letting the pokemon lick her cheeks as she gave him affectionate pets.

"Hello, yourself." Volkner's velvety voice was full of amusement behind her and Penny glanced back at him.

"I was talking to Jolteon, Volkner." She gave him a look and stood up, putting a hand on her hip. Volkner smirked and stepped up to her, leaning down so his face was inches from hers. Penny felt her cheeks heating up and she glanced to the side. He'd gotten quite friendly with her a lot faster than she felt comfortable with _him_. It was clear early on to her that Volkner was one heck of a playboy.

"So you don't think I'm handsome at all...?" He almost purred to her. Penny frowned a little. What was with all of this sexual harassment? It was alright, though, because it usually stopped when... "OW! Jolteon!" Volkner hopped back and scowled at his pokemon who had delivered a tiny volt of electricity to his own trainer.

"He doesn't like it when you flirt so openly with me." Penny giggled and leaned down to pet the happy electric pokemon.

Volkner rolled his eyes. "He's jealous." He scoffed and headed toward the kitchen. Just then, a pleasant ding filled the penthouse: the doorbell. "Get that, will you?" He called, continuing onward to the kitchen.

Penny and Jolteon exchanged glances and she shrugged, going to the door with Jolteon at her heels. Volkner was always getting packages, it seemed, as he was an inventor; he'd shown her all of the solar tiles and electronics he had invented for the operation of Sunyshore City. While she had been greatly impressed, the entire city almost felt like Volkner's personal science project at times. She opened the door with a polite smile, holding a hand out for the pen and clipboard she knew were coming so she could sign for his items. Instead, a hand grasped hers in a strong, tight grip and her eyes shot up to a pair of chestnut ones that glittered with intrigue. The flaming carmine hair that accompanied these eyes stuck up in gravity defying spikes that almost mirrored flames themselves. "O-Oh!" Penny stammered and blushed. "Sorry, I thought..." She cleared her throat as the man shook her hand.

"You must be Penny." He said, an amused grin on his face; a face Penny quickly realized was extremely handsome. Leave it to Volkner to be acquainted with someone equally as attractive as he was; he _was_ vain, after all.

"Oh um, yes. I'm Penny." She nodded a little and suddenly was aware that there were _more_ people outside the door aside from this mystery man.

"Penny, are you going to invite them in, or what?" Volkner asked, sipping on his Moo-Moo milk behind her. Penny pulled her hand back from the man and stepped aside, with Jolteon standing so close to her legs that his fur brushed against her skin. "I wondered what time you guys were going to get here. Then I got Falkner's message." He said, motioning for them all to enter. After the red-haired man came one with blue-black swooping hair that covered one eye and another with spiky, messy silver hair; apparently spikes were _in_ in the pokemon world.

"You don't get much reception on the back of a Dragonite, Volkner." The red haired man chuckled and Penny paled; a _dragonite_?! The only pokemon she'd met were Volkner's and while they were clearly extremely powerful, none of them were excessively terrifying to her (except her first meeting with Electivire, who had frightened her with his bulk and size).

"Yeah, yeah, yeah." Volkner said, waving a lazy hand for the group to follow him to the living room. "Penny, come on, I want to introduce you to some friends of mine." He said, slinging an arm around her shoulders and carried his milk in his free hand.

The group all settled on Volkner's two couches and Penny sat closer to Volkner now than she had the entire three days she'd lived with him. Volkner sipped on his milk for a minute before putting it on the glass table beside the couch. "Alright, Penny. 'Round in a circle here, there's Steven, Falkner and Lance. Where's Mort?" He arched a brow at the man named Falkner, who waved his hand in front of his face.

"He had business in Ecruteak. His visions have been giving him concern he said." He shook his head a bit.

"What kind of visions?" Lance asked.

Falkner shrugged a little. "That's all he would say. He said he'd give me more information as it became clearer to him." The quartet of men all seemed to understand this vague conversation, but Penny was still processing the names and appearances she'd just been given. Steven... This silver haired man was Steven _Stone_, the heir to the Hoenn region's Devon corporation and the steel-using _champion_ of the region's League. There was Falkner, the master of bird pokemon and the leader of the Violet City gym in the Johto region. And then... there was _Lance_. Lance was by far the most intimidating one of them all to her. He was once an elite four in the Kanto region and was also the champion of Johto as well as the master of dragon pokemon, a ferocious type to be certain. Come to think of it, Volkner had also mentioned his G-Man boss was named Lance... that meant that Lance was the field commander of the entire G-Man force. Penny found herself staring at him with dusty pink cheeks; this man was seriously intimidating.

"Hey. Rosie-cheeks." Volkner nudged her and Penny flushed brighter.

"_What?"_ She snapped, amusing him.

"I _asked_ you if you wanted to see what the guys brought for you." He smirked.

Penny blinked in confusion. "Huh? You... brought something for _me?"_ She glanced around at all four men in the room and Volkner chuckled at her, making her nudge him with her foot.

"Volkner called us here to meet you, actually. We know you're not from our world, Penny, and we came to help you." Steven answered with a smile. Penny rubbed her arm a little and smiled bashfully. These guys might have been rough and tough in battle and in their professions, but they were proving to be kind, at least to her.

"We talked and decided it would be best if you tried to acclimate yourself to this world until we can find out why and _how_ you managed to get here." Lance said.

"Oh, well yeah... I guess that's a good idea, huh." Penny nodded a little and her smile brightened a bit.

"Good. It's settled then." Volkner downed the rest of his milk and stood up, Steven, Falkner and Lance following suit.

Penny slowly rose to her feet merely because everyone else had and she looked around at them. "Huh? What's settled?" She bit her lip as she watched Lance produce a pokeball from under the cloak he was wearing.

"Your first pokemon."


	2. Chapter 2

_Chapter Two_

The quintet made their way down to the Sunyshore beach on Volkner's suggestion that Penny and her new mystery pokemon have plenty of room to have their first meeting. He'd also allowed Jolteon to accompany them outside of his pokeball and the electric pokemon hopped along the sand next to Penny; he was obviously just as excited to see what was going to pop out of that pokeball as she was. The group had gone to an area with no people so the meeting between new trainer and new pokemon would be unimpeded by beach-goers.

"Alright, you ready?" Volkner asked, standing next to her as the others stood off to the side. Jolteon stood on the other side of her.

Penny nodded slowly, biting her lip, as was her habit. "Yeah... Yeah I think so." She sighed and closed her eyes for a minute, holding the red and white metal ball against her chest. "Please like me..." She whispered to it, making Volkner grin over at his friends. Penny opened her eyes and tossed the ball up in the air as the white release light filled the area.

_Eevee!_ The light subsided and Penny jumped up to catch the pokeball; she was glad they were almost like boomerangs and came back to the releasing trainer. Her eyes focused on the little brown fox-like creature that padded its tiny feet in the sand and yipped up at her. It had long, pointed ears and thick creamy tufts of fur around its neck, while its tail was a blend of the two fur colors and was just as fluffy as its neck mane.

Penny went down on her knees in the sand and held out her hands. "Hi... Eevee." She spoke softly and beside her, Jolteon sat down on his haunches and tilted his head at the pokemon evolution that he had once been. The little fox pokemon trotted across the sand and sniffed at Penny's fingertips. "I guess I'm your new trainer." She said, smiling sweetly. Eevee looked up at her and then over at Jolteon. "This is Jolteon, he's not our partner, but he's our friend." The girl used a hand to pet Jolteon's head and continued to hold her other one out to the curious Eevee. It turned its small head around and observed the men standing near it before it dove onto Penny's lap. Penny giggled in surprise and delight and lifted the little brown fur-ball up in her arms, cradling it. "Well! Hi to you, too, sweetheart!" She beamed as Eevee nuzzled against her chest and Penny looked up at the men around her. Eevee and Jolteon sniffed each other's noses as the others came closer to observe the new pokemon.

"I caught her in the Viridian Forest on my way here after we'd discussed that you should have a pokemon of your own, Penny." Lance said.

Penny looked up at him with wide eyes. "You caught her for me...?" She smiled at him excitedly and pet on her new little friend. "A _girl..._" She bit her lip so she wouldn't giggle so much.

"Good choice, Lance." Steven said, folding his arms, looking satisfied with this first meeting between pokemon and trainer. "An Eevee suits her quite well." The group all agreed and watched Penny with her cuddly, wiggly new pokemon.

"Yes, and then it was Falkner and Aerodactyl who ended up plucking us out of the sky, don't you remember?" Volkner asked, shoving the last bite of his dinner in his mouth.

"I was _unconscious_, Volkner, you forget that. Skarmory had gotten hit with that Hyper Beam and knocked right into my head when we fell." Steven said, sipping his wine.

Volkner nodded and swallowed. "Oh that's right, I always forget that was the case. That's why Falkner had Aerodactyl carry you instead of all three of us riding his back." Lance and Falkner chuckled at the debate and recollection of one of their dangerous G-Men missions.

The group had shopped for and made dinner together as the men told Penny various stories of the missions they had gone on in the past to entertain her. Near the end of dinner, Penny had excused herself, taking most of the plates with her to wash in the kitchen.

"Volkner, were there that many plates for her to wash?" Steven glanced at Penny's empty dinner chair. "She's been gone awhile."

Volkner cast a glance at the chair and shrugged, pushing himself up out of his own seat. "I'll go check on her. She probably got sick of all your reminiscing." He teased the Hoenn champion.

"You started these stories, I recall." Falkner grinned at him. "I assume it was to impress her since _we_ were all _there_ when all of these happened." It was rare that Falkner got to tease anybody, much less the ladies' man himself.

"Shove it, Falkner." Volkner retorted, but he didn't have a shred of irritation in his voice and the other three laughed as he disappeared into the kitchen.

"So what do you think, Lance?" Falkner asked, leaning up onto the table with his elbows.

Lance arched a brow and ran a hand through his impossible hair; it somehow stayed intact. "About?"

Falkner gestured to the empty seat of the only female of their dinner party. "Penny. Do you have any ideas yet?" He watched their leader shake his head and the three men sat in contemplative silence until it was interrupted by the quickened thud of Volkner's rubber-soled boots on the floor.

"She isn't here." He sounded breathless and looked concerned. The others rose from their seats.

Steven grabbed his jacket on his chair and looked at the others. "We have to find her, then. She's unfamiliar with our world, she could be in danger." The others nodded and Volkner tossed two pokeballs on the floor as the white light filled the area and the electric pokemon yipped and growled a little.

"Jolteon, Luxray, Penny's gone. Can you find her?" Volkner frowned at his pokemon, both of whom looked at each other and began sniffing around; they were familiar with the girl's scent. They made their way quickly to the door and the men all looked at one another for a brief second and hurried out of Volkner's penthouse.

〜〜〜

"Eevee, look out!" Penny shouted. Eevee hopped out of the way of the angry Krabby. "We're... going to have to battle it, aren't we...?" She bit her lip and Eevee yipped at her. "You really do want to, don't you?" Eevee snarled with her tiny teeth at the Krabby. "It's going to do something, Eevee, dodge it! Follow up with a Quick Attack!" She bit her lip again and watched as her little fox pokemon hopped into the air to avoid Krabby's Bubble. Penny, too, scurried out of the way, unsure if the attack would hurt _her_ as well. She gawked in amazement as Eevee listened to her every command and the Krabby was hit. It scuttled around a little and its eyes looked even angrier at her Eevee. "U-Um, okay, um..." Krabby raised its claw in the air to strike Eevee and Penny widened her eyes, running over. "Eevee, jump out of the way and then use Bite!" She had no idea how she was doing all of this as she watched the battle play out before her. She was just spouting off attacks she knew back from her world. She was lucky that they happened to be the same and that battles were apparently conducted similarly to her understanding.

Meanwhile, the G-Men had followed the noses of Jolteon and Luxray to the beach.

"She must have gone for a walk and didn't tell us." Falkner mused as they all jogged behind the pokemon search team.

"Well that was real smart of her." Volkner snapped sarcastically. He felt somewhat responsible for her since he'd found her on this very beach, after all.

"Wait! Volkner, that's her up there!" Steven shouted and pointed up ahead to a girl hopping up and down on the beach. The group hurried toward her and discovered she was holding a very excited Eevee and a Krabby looking a little worse for wear was scuttling off into the ocean.

"Penny, what happened here?" Lance asked, walking up to her. He'd left his cloak back at Volkner's penthouse and was feeling a little strange without it. Penny bit her lip, suddenly felt embarrassed for having wandered off without telling her 'guardians' as they appeared to be now.

"Well, I... I wanted to get to know Eevee a little better so we came out here to walk on the beach before it got too dark. But since the light was fading, we didn't realize it and we bumped into a Krabby, I know that's what that thing was back there, but anyway. It got mad at us and started to attack us! So... Eevee and I kind of..." She fidgeted a little and Eevee yipped her response as well to the other pokemon present.

"You battled it." Steven grinned.

"And _won_." Falkner seemed equally impressed.

"You could have said something." Volkner frowned at the back of the group, although his chastisement went unheard as Penny was praised for using her knowledge correctly by the other three men.

〜〜〜

The group decided to go on a night-walk of the beach, breaking off into smaller groups on occasion and drifting back to the full quintet over and over again. Penny walked between Lance and Volkner as she carried her Eevee in her arms.

"I'm impressed that you are able to show such skill so quickly, Penny. You have only been with Eevee for a few hours and you're already on your way to becoming a well-operating unit." Lance nodded his head as he spoke, seeming to agree with himself the more he thought about it.

"Well if you intend to use Eevee for _battling_ purposes, you need more training than a beach Krabby." Volkner interjected. Penny glanced between the two men and down at Eevee for a minute.

"Well... I do think it would be really amazing to be an actual _trainer_ and not just a pokemon _owner._" She looked back at the dark sandy beach as they walked somewhat behind Steven and Falkner. "How... do you train?" She was hesitant to ask these two highly accomplished men. She'd heard their stories at dinner; these guys were _serious_ trainers.

"You currently live above a gym, do you not?" Lance looked down at her as they walked; he was slightly taller than Volkner and _towered_ over Penny. He was also a very muscular man because of the physical work he was required to perform in the field for the G-Men. She felt dwarfed by both his physicality and his pokemon prowess.

"Yes...?" She looked up at him to find a light smile faintly touching his facial features in the dim light of the beach.

"You'll train with _me_." Volkner said, his tone sharp. "He's right. You live in my house and we live above my gym. So me and my team are the ones who will train you and your Eevee." Lance glanced over the blonde girl's head to the electric trainer who walked on her other side. Volkner was possessive of her, that much was clear. It was also not unexpected; Penny was a pretty girl; with her slender figure she almost appeared fragile like a Cloyster's ice sculpture and her eyes reminded him of the leaves in the Viridian forest while her blonde hair was as long and flowing as the silky beauty of the tail on a Ninetails. Volkner had an easy fondness for pretty girls, and this one just so happened to be easy for him to get close to. She was also interesting to boot. Lance fell silent in the conversation, idly observing Penny when it was possible and monitoring her interactions with Volkner. As a leader and potential protector of this strange girl from a strange world, it would likely prove useful for him to be able to observe her around the members of the G-Men. Should they ever have to split up, he needed to take note of how she got along with the various members of his group.

"Hey Lance." Volkner interrupted his leader's thoughts.

"Hn?"

"Let's head back." He redirected Penny's shoulders toward the gym that, even at a distance, was still easily identifiable. Lance nodded and motioned to Steven and Falkner and the group reconvened as one, wandering back along the sand toward the sparkling Sunyshore gym.


	3. Chapter 3

_Chapter Three_

"Let's go, Penny! Come at me stronger than that!" Volkner shouted at the girl across the battlefield.

Penny frowned and ground her sneaker into the floor of the trainer box she was confined to. If she were to step out of bounds, she'd forfeit their training match. "She's trying with all she's got, Volkner, what more do you want out of Eevee?" She frowned and turned her attention to her pokemon. "Alright, can you keep going?" She watched the little brown fox nod to her and hop over near Jolteon who was Eevee's training partner for today. "If you say so. Let's go for Quick Attack! Aim for a critical hit, Eevee!" Penny shouted.

Volkner folded his arms as he watched. "Dodge! Bite!" His commands met Jolteon's speedy reaction time and Eevee's attack glanced off. He looked between the pokemon on the field and at the girl who held her hands clenched in an aggressive stance.

She had been training with him for a little over a week with the other members of the G-Men watching on occasion. They had all decided to stay in Sunyshore for awhile to observe Penny's adaptations to the pokemon world and also her bonding with the creatures; Penny seemed to have an interesting ability to bond with any pokemon she came in contact with. She had met a few members of Steven's impressive steel arsenal and handled herself well, even winning over the heats of each of those pokemon. She had also met Falkner's Pidgeot as her first introduction to bird pokemon. She had yet to meet any of Lance's dragons; she was still nervous.

Volkner sighed audibly and waved his hand. "Alright, that's enough for today. If that's all you two are capable of for now then there's no need to continue." He was a lot harder on her when no one was around to watch them train.

Penny frowned at him as Eevee skipped back toward her trainer once Jolteon had been recalled. "Why are you like this?" She picked Eevee up and stroked the pokemon's fluffy coat.

"Like _what?"_ Volkner crossed his arms once again as she walked across the battlefield toward him.

"Just... _always _so negative about us. Why don't you ever say we improve? You make it seem like we never get any better than day one. I don't understand." She stood face to face with him and Eevee yipped her agreement with her trainer.

"You need to improve more. You and Eevee won't make it as a trainer and pokemon team if you don 't work harder. Do you think I got where I am from the half-baked results that you're showing me? _Hardly._" He scoffed at her and ran a hand through his hair. Penny glared at him. Their relationship had been a lot more rocky since he had started training her; sure, they had been a little awkward and strained when she'd first begun living with him but there was always an underlying element of playfulness even when they seemed irritated with each other. Now, however, all of that playfulness had turned into irritation whenever the two were in the same room.

"You know what? Maybe you shouldn't be the one training me, then. Maybe I should pursue other avenues." Penny let Eevee hop from her arms and scamper off toward the 'No Admittance' door: it was the door that led to the stairs for Volkner's penthouse.

"'Other avenues'?" His blue eyes glaciated for a moment. "Well if that's how you feel, then I guess you don't need to stay here at the Sunyshore gym anymore, do you?"

Penny blinked a few times and felt her heart stop for a split second; he was kicking her out! She clenched her jaw for a moment. He wasn't going to get to her. She wouldn't let him. People went on pokemon journeys here at ten years old, right? She'd do it too! She didn't have any money and the clothes on her back were by the good graces of Volkner in the first few days they'd known one another, but she'd find a way. Ten-year-olds didn't get jobs either, they got money on the road, doing odd jobs and pokemon battling. "Fine. You're right. I _don't_ need to stay here anymore, Volkner. Thanks for _all_ you've done." She hissed and stormed off in the same direction Eevee had gone. Despite the poison she finally found to throw in her words to him after this week of training, she meant her gratitude. Volkner had saved her, housed her, clothed her, fed her and taken care of her. It was scary to think she was about to leave with nothing but the clothes she appeared in this world wearing (she wasn't about to take the clothes he bought her, merely because they were purchased with _his_ money) and an Eevee but she wasn't backing down against Volkner's bullying. She burst into the penthouse, slamming the door behind her.

Sitting at the table, Steven and Falkner looked up and exchanged glances. Penny and Volkner arguing was not uncommon these days, but the girl had yet to look so upset.

"Penny...?" Steven called after her but she ignored him and went straight to the guest room where she slept and kept her things. She blinked when she found Lance reading a book on her bed and she almost turned around to leave him alone when she remembered her purpose in coming back upstairs.

"Oh, done training for the day?" The carmine-haired champion asked, marking the page he was on and putting the book aside. Almost immediately he saw the frantic behavior of the girl and he slid to the edge of the bed. "What are you doing?"

Penny was going through her clothes, pulling out a pair of pants, a shirt and a cardigan and then she grabbed a little pair of flat shoes and hoisted the items in her arms. "I'm going to change." She said and disappeared into the hallway bathroom. Lance scratched his head a little and Eevee hopped up on the bed beside him, yipping and whimpering as she stepped her tiny feet up onto his lap. He rubbed the little pokemon's back and scratched on her ears for a minute with furrowed brows. Something was up; this wasn't the usual "irritated after a match with Volkner" that Penny had been after her other training sessions. After a moment, the girl reappeared and had pulled her long, elbow-length hair up into a ponytail. She looked over at Eevee and picked up her pokeball that she usually left on the small dresser in the room when she let the little fox out of it. "Eevee, return." Eevee was enveloped in the red light of the pokeball and disappeared from Lance's lap.

"Penny, what's wrong?" Lance rose from the bed and pushed the sleeves of his black sweater up a little.

Penny's back was to him by now and she walked to the doorway. "Thanks for everything, Lance, seriously. You're the reason I have Eevee. But I've got to go. I can't stay here anymore." She said.

Lance's eyes widened for a minute before he was by her side in an instant, grabbing her forearm. "What are you saying? Where do you think you're going to _go?_ Whatever happened during training, Volkner didn't mean it. He's hot-headed, we all know that." His voice was reassuring but his grip on her arm meant business. "Besides, it isn't safe for you to just wander around this world when you know virtually nothing abo—"

"I know enough." She said, as she looked up at him. Lance's fingers went slightly lax on her arm; her eyes were glossy. Volkner had almost succeeded in making her cry.

A heavy sigh was emitted from Lance's nose and he shook his head, dragging her back toward her bed. "No, you don't. Listen, I'll talk to Volkner for you. It's best that you stay with someone who knows both this world _and_ your secret." The group had decided that the fact that Penny was from another world could be a reason for the wrong people to target her. If someone _else_ knew why she was there and the G-Men didn't, she could be in danger.

"Lance, I..." Penny shook her head and looked at the floor.

"Where the hell did she go?" It was Volkner's voice in the hallway that caused Penny to stop speaking. Lance shook his head and let her arm go. A moment later, Volkner appeared in the doorway and he sighed. "Lance. I need to talk to her." The girl in the room kept her eyes on the floor and Lance looked between the pair before he slowly walked to the door and put a hand on Volkner's shoulder. He paused there for a moment before letting his hand drop and he went to join the others in the dining room at the table.

Volkner and Penny stood on opposite sides of the room for a minute before he stepped inside and closed the door behind him. "Listen, I didn't _mean_ that you had to leave." He leaned against the door, almost as if he were trapping her.

Penny was silent for a heartbeat. "You looked like you meant every word." She kept repeating the same phrase in her head as she spoke: don't cry, Penny.

"Well it isn't true. I was just irritated that my regiment doesn't seem to be helping you." He mumbled. "So... you... don't have to go anywhere, alright?" With that, Volkner reopened the door and left her in the room alone. Penny sat down on her bed and bit her lip hard. Training had been hard that week: watching her pokemon actually attack and _be_ attacked had been severely emotionally taxing on her and Volkner's lack of sympathy or sensitivity had only served to make her emotional wounds sting even more. Her eyes grew hot and she batted away tears. This world was not what she'd ever imagined it would be. It was _real_, certainly, but it was a lot harder and more difficult than she'd have previously thought.

Penny sat alone in her room for awhile before there was a soft knock. She was rolling Eevee's pokeball between her hands, contemplating the pokeball operating mechanisms that Lance had taught her about the day she met her little pokemon. She glanced over at the door and sat up from laying back on her bed. "It's open." The door eased open and in its way stood Steven who smiled gently at her.

"Hey, there's something interesting going on that we thought you should be involved in." He was always so gentle, even his voice was gentle to her. It made Penny wonder how on earth a man so kindhearted could be a ruthless battler and a region champion.

"Hm? What's going on?" Penny slid off of her bed as Steven motioned for her to follow him. The pair entered the living room as Falkner was hanging up a call and he turned toward everyone with a nod.

"So what's the plan? Is Morty sure?" Volkner asked, his arms folded and he cast a quick glance at Penny. As a matter of fact, _everyone_ stared at her for a minute when she entered the room.

"He said that this corresponded with his visions. He wants us there as soon as possible to meet her." Falkner said, putting his Pokegear back in his pocket. Penny was silent and just looked between everyone as they began to shuffle around, clearly preparing to leave. She bit her lip as the men filed out of the living room; something must be up with the other member of the G-Men elite force that she'd heard about: Morty, the ghost-type gym leader of Johto's Ecruteak City. Volkner was the last one out of the room and he grabbed her by the arm, pulling her after him. Penny stumbled a little, surprised when he pulled her into his room.

"We're leaving immediately." He said, grabbing a small black backpack and began stuffing some clothes into it, putting six pokeballs in as he moved about the room.

Penny watched him and chewed on her lip a little. "Oh, um. Alright, then." She fidgeted. "Where do you want _me_ to go? Or did you need someone to watch the gym and tell people you're away?" She watched Volkner stop and he turned toward her, zipping the pack up.

"No, you're coming with us. This is important." He threw the pack over his shoulder and wandered to his closet, shuffling things around for a minute. "This might have clues as to how and why you came here." He said, his voice muffled from being in the closet.

Penny's eyes widened as she stared at his back. "What...? Seriously?" She watched as he produced another backpack, a white one.

"Yes. So pack your things and get Eevee. Morty's discovered another girl."

〜〜〜

They all made their way down to the beach and Penny felt her heart fluttering in her chest. This was both exciting for her and scary. She stood beside Volkner as everyone secured their various backpacks and other items; she noticed that the men seemed to travel light. It made sense, what with all the hassle it had to be to carry so many things when trainers like them seemed to travel by foot everywhere. She, too, had brought the few changes of clothes she had and Eevee's pokeball was safely tucked away in her pack.

"Is everyone ready?" Falkner asked, looking between the group.

Steven pulled out a pokeball and in an instant, his large Skarmory was cawing and pecking at the sand. "Ready when you are." He crawled on top of the steel bird and rubbed on its neck. Penny's eyes widened as Falkner released Pidgeot and hopped up on the giant bird's back. She looked over at Volkner and Lance as her heart began to race.

"We're flying to Canalave port to catch a ship to the Johto region. It's too far to feasibly fly on our pokemon. Once we're in Olivine City, Johto, we'll fly up to Ecruteak to meet Morty." Lance explained and tossed one of his pokeballs to Volkner. Volkner tossed the ball in the air and Penny found herself face to face with a large green pokemon with red accents and eyes that were shielded by appendages that almost mirrored red goggles. It scratched itself with one of its arms and tilted its head inquisitively at her. This was a _dragon_. "Penny, don't be afraid, that's Flygon." Lance called to her.

She glanced over at him just in time to see another dragon, even larger than Flygon, but Penny didn't have to be told what kind of dragon this one was, she knew. "Dragonite..." She whispered, staring in awe at the creature she held so much intimidated reverence for. Dragonite stood proudly beside Lance and Penny could see why this man was the leader of the G-Men just by watching him stand beside this powerful creature.

"Penny, ride with either Lance or Volkner. Those dragons are large enough to carry two passengers comfortably." Falkner called as he and Pidgeot lifted off the ground, followed by Skarmory and Steven. Penny gulped and looked between the dragons and the men who stood beside them. Dragonite eyed her for a moment before taking a few steps toward her and squatting a little.

Lance laughed and wandered over as well. "Looks like Dragonite wants to give you a lift." He smiled at her and extended his hand. "I'll help you." He glanced over at Volkner who nodded a little and crawled up onto Flygon's back. Penny swallowed and took his hand as he and Dragonite both helped hoist her onto the creature's back. Lance jumped on behind her with relative ease; it was clear he had done this countless times before. "Alright, we're heading to Canalave, Dragonite. Let's go." Penny glanced over as Volkner and Flygon leapt into the sky to follow the other two members of their group. Dragonite made a rumbling noise from his throat and his blue wings began to flap as they lifted off the ground. Penny gasped and reached down to grab on, not sure how comfortable she was going to be on the back of a pokemon high in the air. As they climbed in altitude, Dragonite kept his pace fast but was quite aware of the second passenger he carried who was very ill-at-ease. "Penny." Lance said, scooting closer to her. "It's alright, there's no need to be afraid. Dragonite is _very _safe. He'd never let anything happen to you, and neither would I. Trust me, he and I have flown in some... not-so-safe conditions." He chuckled a little and Penny bit her lip, looking down at her lap and at Lance's legs that encompassed hers from behind.

"I know... I remember the stories. It's just... this is really nerve-wracking for me. I guess I don't have to tell either of you it's my first time flying on a pokemon." She said, still holding on to the orange dragon.

Lance couldn't hold back another amused laugh. "Oh we're both well aware of _that._" He shook his head and grabbed her wrists lightly, wrenching her hands free from his dragon as they flew. "But just imagine it's _you_ flying through the air. Would you be able to do this in your world?" He asked, holding her arms out by her sides.

Penny's heart was racing and she was temporarily paranoid she was going to fall off but Lance's legs pushed a little harder against hers, holding her in place against Dragonite. "W-Well, no..." The added bonus to her newfound fear of flying was that Lance's body was all over hers and she wasn't exactly sure how to handle this. Of course he didn't mean anything by it, not like flirtatious Volkner would have, but that didn't make it any less embarrassing.

"It's beautiful up here. Look around." He coaxed, still holding her arms out beside her as if she were flying by herself. Penny swallowed hard and looked around, her heart pounding hard against her chest. Admittedly, the view was breathtaking and she did her best to forget about the fact that she was riding on the back of a pokemon with only Lance as her seatbelt. Then again... if the _dragon master_ and his main partner were the ones transporting her through the air... she _probably_ didn't have much to worry about. After she'd processed this thought for a minute or two, Lance felt her body relax from its rigidness, if only a little, and he smiled; he and Dragonite might have won her over to flying.


	4. Chapter 4

_Chapter Four_

"Look, here they come." Falkner pointed in the sky as he recalled Pidgeot. He and Steven had landed in Canalave port first and shortly afterward, Volkner and Flygon had landed. The men recalled the remaining pokemon and had waited about five minutes before Falkner spotted Dragonite soaring over the city.

"Wonder what she thought of flying." Steven mused as he watched the dragon make a loop around the city before coming in, obviously locating the three of them near the docks.

"Probably freaked out on Lance." Volkner watched the orange dragon swoop in with a strange grace almost ill-befitting its large bulky frame and he touched down on the docks. Falkner and Steven wandered over, both erupting in grins when they saw Penny's flushed white face.

"Flying's amazing, isn't it?" Falkner grinned.

Penny kind of glanced at him for a minute as Lance hopped off Dragonite behind her. "I... um. Sure." She said quietly.

Lance helped her off his pokemon before he recalled him. "We had fun up there, didn't we?" He watched Penny with an amused expression.

"You scared the hell out of her, didn't you?" Volkner sounded entertained.

"Well..." Lance said, folding his muscular arms as Penny shrunk closer to Falkner and Steven for a moment. "We showed her some high altitude sights and maybe did a trick or two." It was no secret that Lance and Dragonite were very acrobatic flyers.

"That's almost cruel, Lance." Steven chastised and patted Penny's shoulder. He blinked a few times and shook his head. "She's _shaking."_ He sighed heavily and eyed his fellow champion.

"Welcome to the G-Men, Penny." Volkner grinned at her as he and Lance headed off toward one of the buildings on the dock to purchase tickets for the Johto-bound steamship. Penny sighed and hung her head a little.

Falkner chuckled and patted her other shoulder. "Come on, let's go. Those two have... a _flair_ for flashy lifestyles. Keep that in mind and you'll be fine." He and Steven led the shaky girl off after the electric and dragon trainers, feeling sorry for her but secretly being a tiny bit amused that _Lance_ of all people had decided to play with the girl in mid-air.

〜〜〜

A few hours later, the group found themselves on an ocean liner that departed from Canalave in the evening and would arrive in Olivine mid-morning the following day. Dinner was served aboard the ship and the quintet did their best to eat in the corner, inconspicuously. After all, if anyone noticed two gym leaders and two region champions, they might have to deal with more than just one fan; League participants were akin to celebrities regardless of what region they happened to be in or from. Since Lance had taken charge of buying tickets for the rooms, he'd also been tasked with assigning roommates for the night. Volkner had been put in a larger suite with both Steven and Falkner which left Lance and Penny to their own room. Volkner had expressed his disdain for not being the one to be alone with their female companion, but Lance reassured him that he had none of the same intentions Volkner did whenever _he _was around a woman.

Lance made his way down the hall from the others' room after having had a short meeting about these mysteriously appearing girls. No one had any clues or ideas as to how or why they were showing up in the pokemon world, but since they were showing up, and it was no longer only Penny, things needed to be in the hands of the G-Men. Lance opened the door to the stateroom and glanced around for Penny, finding her up on her knees peering out of the port window above her bed out at the stars; he had left her in their room during the meeting and night had descended upon the ship before he had returned. "Enjoying the view?" He asked, closing the door behind him.

Penny spun around and smiled a little. "I've always had a fear of the ocean, so that's included boats and ships, but this is kind of cool. I guess I feel a little safer because we have our pokemon here to help us if anything goes wrong." She slipped down onto her bed and stood up to greet him as he headed further into the room and removed his cloak, folded it and put it at the foot of his bed. Their stateroom had two separate beds, luckily.

"Well I'm sure you have nothing to worry about. This ship has made plenty of journeys to other regions and safely carried passengers each time with no problems. We'll all be fine." As he spoke, he peeled out of his black sweater to reveal a tight muscle tank top underneath and Penny blushed, averting her gaze as he made himself comfortable without any heed to the fact that she was even affected.

"Uh, yeah, you're probably right." She was unable to mask her stammering but Lance seemed either to not notice or not care.

"Did I scare you too much today? On Dragonite, I mean?" He fell hard on his back onto his bed and it bounced a little under his weight. He reached up to put his arms behind his head and looked over at her.

Penny bit her lip and sat down on the edge of her own bed, facing him. "Well... you... I _did_ think I was going to die a few times but..." She watched a sheepish grin form on his face. "I knew you and Dragonite wouldn't actually let me get hurt so that was my consolation."

Lance nodded a bit. "Of course not. I'd never let you get hurt, and neither would any of my men. You're as safe as you could possibly be with any one of us." He turned to stare at the ceiling as he worked to kick his boots off and they fell off the end of his bed with two clunky _thud_s. Penny smiled thinly as she watched him. He kind of reminded her of some righteous, heroic soldier in a way. It was... nice. "So, Penny." He said and looked over at her again. Penny found herself sitting up a little straighter when his chestnut eyes were on her. "I made these rooming arrangements on purpose." As he spoke, Penny found herself turning a little pink. "I did it so I could talk to you."

"Oh... really? Talk about what?" She idly rubbed her arm with her hand and cleared her throat. It was beginning to be a problem that the only people she knew in this world were seriously attractive, seriously powerful men.

Lance sat up and propped his elbows on his knees. "Well. To ask you about your world seems like it might take longer than we have on this ship." He chuckled a little and ran his fingers through his hair that miraculously fell right back into place after its disturbance. "So instead I thought we could talk about _this_ world. What do you think of it? Of pokemon?" He tilted his head a little and almost reminded her of one of his inquisitive dragons.

"I don't now where to begin. To be honest, I'd only ever dreamed of this place but it's a lot different from my imagination. It's a lot... _harder_." She sighed a little and cast her eyes off to the side in thought.

Lance studied her closely. "You mean their existence? Or do you mean training with Volkner?" Of course he hadn't forgotten the scene at the penthouse earlier.

Penny looked back to him and and then quickly away again. "I... Battling is so brutal. It hurts my heart whenever Eevee or _any_ of the pokemon are attacked. I know you all told me that it stimulates them and is the best way for energy release and all that stuff but... still. It's hard." She sighed heavily and fidgeted with the bottom of her cardigan. "As for Volkner..." She bit her lip, trying to piece her words together carefully. "Without him I have no clue where I'd be, really. He saved me. But I think... we're just not on the same wavelength with battling. He's _strong_, I mean you all are, but the way he battles... I have trouble with it. We're just not good enough for him." She shook her head and pulled her long ponytail over her shoulder.

Lance nodded his head slowly as he glanced around the room, pondering things for a moment. A silence fell between the two of them as Penny awkwardly braided the ends of her ponytail. "Penny, what if you trained with me?"

Penny's head shot up and she stared at him with wide eyes. "W-What...? Eevee couldn't take on anyone from your team. Well, I mean... I've only seen Dragonite and Flygon but still, I'm sure the rest of your dragons are just as... big." She bit her lip, feeling _very_ inferior.

Lance only chuckled and shook his head. "Well my guys know their limits and they're pretty good at gauging an opponent. After all, Dragonite was who helped me catch your Eevee in the first place. We could take it slow and see how it goes. Whatever pace you want to advance at is what we'll do." He gave her a gentle smile and Penny found herself blushing again. What was _with_ this world? She certainly didn't blush this much in _her_ world.

"I..." She was stuttering a lot here, too. "You'd do that?" She watched him nod and she fidgeted a little. "Well then if it's okay... I'd like to train with you." She gave him a shy smile and his expression morphed into one of warm comfort.

"Then it's settled. As soon as we have the opportunity, we'll begin." He fell back onto his bed again and gave a big yawn, stretching his arms and unintentionally showing off muscles all over them and his chest to the girl who was desperately trying _not_ to peek. "It's getting late." He sighed.

"Would you... be bothered if I took a shower before bed?" She asked, reaching over and grabbing her travel bag.

Lance shook his head and yawned again. "Not at all, go ahead." He waved her off and she disappeared into the small bathroom that was attached to their stateroom.

When Penny emerged from her shower, she discovered Lance had fallen asleep. She had dried her hair in the bathroom and folded her towel before she placed it in the bin beside the tub. She found that she was not as tired as she'd thought and she glanced around the room for a minute, trying to figure out what to do. She saw the room key laying on the coffee table that separated their two beds and picked it up, slid on her shoes and carefully, quietly slipped out of the room, pocketing the key. She wandered around the ship for a little while, seeing other people taking walks with their pokemon and eventually, she discovered that she had made her way to the promenade deck. She walked across it to the edge of the deck and grabbed onto the railing, watching the sea sparkle with the moon and starlight like a black abyss that spanned forever. The sea and the sky joined as one giant black mass as the ship sailed and it appeared that they were traveling through space. The sea was calm and the sky was so clear that the stars and the sliver of the moon reflected off the water like a mirror. Penny leaned against the railing and gazed out at the stars and their reflections contemplating her existence in this magical world. Why had she been brought here...? And how? No one knew the answers to these questions. She didn't even remember anything strange happening to her before she left her own world. She sighed as she watched the dark view and shivered; it was cold near Sinnoh, the northern most region of the pokemon world. They were going to Johto, a region south of Sinnoh but not all the way to the far south, Hoenn. These men she was traveling with hailed from the various regions of this world, a world that until very recently, she thought was completely fictional. They were all convinced that if she stuck with them, she'd find how she got here and why. She would find the purpose lying behind everything that had happened to turn her entire life upside down. She was so thankful for them, every single one of them. They had found her and even though they barely knew her, they were taking care of her. She smiled thinly at the thought of all of this, that she'd miraculously been found by a group of wonderful, caring people.

"What are you doing out here all alone?" A very familiar voice broke Penny's mental reverie and she turned around to see Volkner walking up behind her with a cigarette balanced precariously between his lips.

"Just wasn't tired yet so I thought I'd investigate the ship. Ended up out here. How about you?" She asked him as she turned back toward the water.

Volkner walked up beside her and leaned with his back against the rails. "Smoking." Was all he said. He placed the cigarette between his fingers as he took a long drag and exhaled the smoke slowly. The man next to her... the man who had found her... the man who had saved her _first_. Volkner was the most difficult individual Penny had known in her life up to that point and she was completely sure of this fact. Despite this, however, she liked him. She enjoyed their catty arguments and she enjoyed the ridiculously obvious passes he made at her because they were so absurd they might be found in a joke-dating book in a novelty store. She'd seen him around a few other women since she'd met him and he was a lot smoother with them. She could understand the ladies' man reputation he held and why it worked so well for him. He was tall, powerful, handsome; he was anything a woman might want. There _was_ the problem with his temper, however. Volkner was hard to live with and he got irritated easily even if he'd eventually come around and very awkwardly apologize in his own round-about way... even... if he never actually ever said the word "sorry" to anybody.

"You really think I'll find something out about myself and my appearance here?" She asked after the pair shared a comfortable silence.

Volkner shrugged a little as he finished off his cigarette and flicked it behind him into the ocean. Penny shoved him a little for littering; she didn't have to say why, he knew it and he smirked. "Maybe we'll find something out, Penny. All we can do at this point is try and trust in Morty's visions."

Penny nodded a little. "Morty's visions, huh...? The guys were all talking like Morty's never wrong with his visions."

"He's never been before." Volkner confirmed.

The pair fell into another silence, standing inches apart and just being out in the crisp, cool air on the promenade deck. After a few minutes, some muffled voices were heard nearby and it piqued the interest of the two: there were no other people on deck and there hadn't been for awhile. Penny looked up at Volkner who held his finger to his lips to keep her quiet.

"Stay close." He muttered and casually began to stroll in the direction of the voices. Penny crept behind him, doing her best to not look suspicious herself.

"Please! I've never heard of a pokemon flute of that name before!" A voice pleaded. Volkner stopped and held his arm out to stop Penny. She leaned close to him, grabbing on to his sleeve as she peered around him. The pair spied around the corner and spotted a crewman surrounded by three mysterious men with long silver hair and ninja-like attire. One of the men grabbed a pokeball from his belt and a Bisharp appeared before him. Penny gulped and inched even closer to Volkner. That pokemon was similar to the one in her mind but it looked a _lot_ more dangerous in real life.

"Then I guess we're going to have to make our existences on this ship a secret. Bisharp, do it." The pokemon raised its arm and the blade attached to it and Penny's eyes widened: these men were about to kill this crewman. She tugged on Volkner's sleeve and he watched on with narrowed eyes. The Bisharp brought its arm down swiftly and simultaneously Volkner spun around and pressed Penny's face to his chest as a sickening sound was heard around the corner. Penny was shaking and staring wide-eyed at the grey material of Volkner's track jacket. He pulled her away and latched a strong hand around her wrist, not saying a word as he jerked her along quickly.

"There are some little Rattata we need to take care of as well. Two of them. You two, see to it." Another voice of the silver-haired ninja spoke and Penny felt her heart stop; those "Rattata" were _her_ and _Volkner_. Volkner walked swiftly to the entrance back inside of the ship and once they rounded a corner, he pulled Penny into another hallway and was almost jogging. Penny was shaking and doing her best to keep up and not impede his escape efforts. He pulled her down a few different hallways before he opened a door and shoved her in, following her and shutting the door behind him. It was dark, completely so at first. Penny stood perfectly still so her eyes would adjust and so she would make no noise. After a moment, her eyes adjusted and she glanced around. They were in a broom closet, which explained why everything felt so cramped and stuffy. She looked up at Volkner who had his back to her, his hand still gripping the door handle. She was shaking and doing her best not to pant from their flight away from the men. Those men... there was a man dead on the deck. She covered her mouth and closed her eyes tightly as they filled with tears. Someone was murdered. Pokemon could _murder_ at the commands of their trainers. She shook her head and accidentally emitted a squeak. Volkner glanced at her for a minute and reached his free arm back, encompassing her shoulders and tugging her toward him. They remained silent as he squeezed her tightly and she clung to the front of his jacket. He'd protected her from the sight, but he couldn't shield her from the knowledge of what had just happened. The question was... _why _had it just happened...? And why were those men... There was no way. Those men couldn't be who he thought they were. They shouldn't be around, they shouldn't be operating anymore. Volkner's concerned frown deepened and he suppressed a sigh. He needed to tell the others about what he'd witnessed. It seemed, however, that he'd have to keep the girl locked with him in the closet for awhile until he felt it was safe to move about again and then he would tell his teammates in the morning, first thing. He looked down at Penny who was doing her hardest to hide her whimpers and stay silent. Volkner wasn't the best at being comforting but he gave her a squeeze as they stood, his other hand firmly clamped around the doorknob to keep it shut.


	5. Chapter 5

_Chapter Five_

Morning came, as did breakfast but not for four men who sat with brooding faces in a stateroom. Volkner had made Penny stay in the closet with him until she had gotten so exhausted she drifted off to sleep against him. He'd taken her back to her room with Lance, who was shocked to be woken up with Volkner cradling Penny in his arms like a sleeping child. The electric trainer had woken up early and called a meeting in his stateroom, since it was easier for Lance to leave the sleeping girl locked safely in their room than for them to have a secret meeting with her sleeping in the same room. Volkner had informed his teammates of the events of the night and there was a grave feeling of dread. They knew exactly who the silver-haired ninja men were, but what they didn't know was why they were on the ship and what kind of pokemon flute they happened to be searching for.

"Did she see anything?" Falkner asked after an extended silence between the group.

Volkner shook his head as he lit a cigarette; talking about the events made him apprehensive and he needed something to calm his nerves. "No. I turned her head before the Cut hit. She knew what happened though. I couldn't get her away in time, regardless. But I had to witness it myself so I could be certain of their intentions."

"Well... we'll need to talk to Morty about this when we arrive." Steven said, running his fingers through his hair and shaking his head. The others all agreed and after awhile of discussion, Lance ended up making his way back to his stateroom to check on Penny. After the night of horror and excitement, she was still sleeping in her bed that he and Volkner had tucked her into. He watched her sleep, thinking about how he and the others preferred for her to remain innocent to the truly dark sides of their world in order to continue aiding her in her acclimation into their world and their society. That very idea had been thwarted by the three men on deck last night. She had not witnessed the murder with her eyes, but Lance found himself wondering if it even mattered since she'd been so close to it anyway. Of course she had to have inferred that pokemon were capable of taking life but for her to experience it... He sighed. Something was wrong; he didn't feel right. He was counting the minutes until the ship docked in Olivine and they could all head to Ecruteak and see what Morty knew, if anything, about the events.

〜〜〜

Flying had been a little easier this time. Penny had ridden on Dragonite with Lance again, provided he promised no outrageous tricks. Instead, she spent the majority of the trip to Ecruteak staring at the looming Mt. Silver that hung over the Johto region, visible from almost every city. They landed outside of the Ecruteak Gym and as the men recalled their pokemon, Penny unzipped her bag and released her own. Eevee hopped around her trainer's feet and Penny stared at her for a moment. This sweet, tiny pokemon would evolve, provided she were a competent enough trainer, and when she did, she would be strong enough to take a life. Penny picked her brown fur-ball up and Eevee nuzzled her chest. When she turned around, the men were all watching her, each with equally unreadable expressions. Lance had informed her on the flight to Ecruteak that they all knew about the murder on the ship and that the man's death would not go unpunished; they would find the culprits responsible for the horrible deed.

"Penny, are you ready to meet Morty?" Steven called, stepping over to her and putting a gentle hand on her shoulder.

Penny nodded and looked up at the gym. "Yeah, let's go." As the two of them walked off, the others all watched her and were each thinking the same thing as they went on after the pair: how would Penny handle pokemon now, knowing their capacity to kill?

As the group entered the gym, they saw a girl sitting at the far end of the battlefield playing with a floating pokemon who was cooing gently to her.

"Morty?" Falkner called out and from a side door, Morty emerged with a semi-transparent purple floating pokemon hovering around his head with a creepy grin.

"Hello, everyone." He smiled over at Penny and brushed some of his feathery blond hair from his eyes. "It's nice to finally meet the girl I've heard so much about." He held out his hand to shake hers and she gently shifted Eevee into one arm.

"It's nice to meet you, too. I've heard a lot about you and your pokemon." She smiled a little as she watched the other guys head over to meet the girl who was playing with the ghost pokemon. "So... she's playing with _ghosts_. And here I was afraid of Jolteon and Raichu." Penny readjusted Eevee in her arms and watched the guys she had been traveling and living with all gathered around the new girl like she were a creature from a zoo. Penny sighed and shook her head. "I think their barrage of questions is going to scare her even more than your ghost pokemon probably did if she's from _my_ world." She glanced at Morty who had a mild grin on his face at her words and headed over in that direction. Morty put his hands in his pockets and followed her over.

"So you _are_ from another world." Steven said, watching the new girl. Her light auburn hair was in two side-braids and she fidgeted with one, looking from face to face in this group of attractive strangers.

"You're all going to terrify her if you don't give her some room to _breathe_." Penny chastised them and a few of them sheepishly backed away, though Volkner purposefully backed into Penny with a look of fake surprise. Penny rolled her eyes at him and stepped up to the girl. "Hey, sorry about these guys, they're really curious about girls from our world—" She stopped and stared at the girl as her eyes slowly widened. "What...?"

"Penny?" Falkner's voice came from behind her.

"Do you know this girl?" Volkner frowned and crossed his arms, eyeing the new girl up.

"She..." Penny stammered. "She's my best friend, Claire."

〜〜〜

"It's odd that the girls should be here in the first place, let alone the fact that they're so interwoven into each other's lives. I believe they are here for a purpose." Lance said, glancing over at the girls. The men had separated from them and sat at the opposite side of the gym's stadium bleacher seating.

"Well what do you think they're here _for?"_ Volkner asked, lighting a cigarette.

"Maybe _you _have insight into that, Morty." Steven suggested, looking over at the ghost master.

Morty adjusted his headband, which further messed up his constant bed-head. He sighed a little and looked at his friends. Now that they inspected him in person as opposed to on video chats, he looked _exhausted_; he had dark circles around his eyes and he was a little paler than usual. "I have... an idea, at best." The others all looked between each other.

"An idea? You've gotten no other clues? Even when you meditate?" Falkner asked, casting a glance at the girls who were speaking animatedly as Eevee yipped, apparently attempting to participate in conversation with them.

"Well... it appears that something has been blocking my ability to see visions." Morty slumped against the bleacher behind him and looked up at the ceiling. "They're dark. Literally dark, not figuratively; I cannot _see _what is going on in these visions. All I can see are figures before a great door. The door is stories high, there's no way these tiny figures would be able to open it all on their own. When the figures begin moving around, something happens and the door opens. It's very slow, but it begins to open and in the darkness a blinding light fills the area. I can't see what they're doing or what's behind the door because I'm _forced_ from my vision." He sat up again and rubbed the sides of his head. "I have attempted to dive into that vision for weeks now. Whether I am sleeping or meditating specifically on it, I cannot stay to see what emerges from the other side of the door." When he finished, the others all remained silent. They each tried to process what was going on and trying to figure out Morty's vision.

"Do you think the figures are these girls?" Lance asked, folding his arms. "If so, whatever is on the other side of that door might harm them. As the elite field force of the Pokemon G-Men, I think we need to take responsibility of them ourselves." His suggestion was met with unanimous agreement.

"But what could be strong enough to block one of Morty's visions?" Steven glanced at his teammates and no one had an answer. Instead, one by one they all turned to watch the girls play with the hopping, rolling Eevee in the gym floor.

"That pokemon has helped Penny greatly." Falkner observed. "I think her drive to become a trainer has helped acclimate her to this world."

"I think they _both_ need pokemon. If we are going to keep them safe, there are enough of us to watch over two girls. I do think, however, it would be beneficial if they were able to defend _themselves_ if something were to happen." Lance ran a hand through his hair.

"Well, Claire may have a little more of a difficult time acclimating in terms of owning her own pokemon. We'll have to start her out slowly." Morty ruffled his own hair. "Her introduction to pokemon has been ghosts, and that has not been an easy task. Haunter and Gengar enjoy frightening people and... well." He had a sheepish, apologetic look on his face and the others chuckled.

"Maybe I should help her." Falkner suggested. "Penny's told me before that my birds are relatively similar, albeit much _larger,_ than the birds from her world. My pokemon are likely the most normal things for Claire to get used to. I'd help her catch anything she wanted, as well. If, of course, we found anything in the wild that appealed to her."

"I think that's a _great_ idea, Falkner. In fact, Penny and I spoke of training on the ship and it was decided that I would take her under my wing and help her get stronger." Lance said. Beside him, Steven raised his eyebrows at this change in Penny's _mandated_ training regiment. They had all been present when Volkner asserted himself multiple times as her only trainer.

〜〜〜

Volkner frowned and blew smoke from his nose as he finished his cigarette. "_You?"_ He ground the cigarette on the bottom of his shoe as Gengar emerged from the floor and held out his large transparent hand to Volkner. The electric gym leader dropped the cigarette onto the pokemon's hand and it slithered back into the shadows to dispose of it. "She trains with me, what's the deal switching her regiment?" He sounded guarded but not hostile; he knew it was a bad idea to pick a fight with a man who was not only his superior but also a region champion.

"Well, Volkner," Lance began, "I think it was pretty clear that the way you two battle is not synonymous. She told me she's uncomfortable with her current situation and was more than happy to change it. You, a gym leader, already know that the training style of one trainer may not work for the next. Your style is effective, clearly. But it is simply not what Penny needs." He was a lot more calm sounding than Volkner. The others all glanced between the two most hot-headed members of the group.

"Maybe it wouldn't be so bad to let her test out new things and let her decide." Steven suggested, though the look he received from Volkner for speaking out made him wish he'd just kept his mouth shut.

"Why _don't_ we ask her?" Volkner rose from his seat and walked down the bleachers.

"He's too possessive. That won't help him protect her at all. He'll be too easily emotionally compromised." Lance observed as Volkner approached the girls and began talking to them.

"You don't think being emotionally involved on a protection mission is beneficial, Lance?" Steven tilted his head and watched their leader.

Lance rose from his seat and glanced back at the group. "I don't. Emotional attachments to targets cause rash decisions and less thought before action." He made his way down the steps as the other three looked between each other. This was an argument waiting to happen.

Volkner frowned at Penny who had stood to meet him and Eevee was standing between the two of them. Claire, too, had stood up and was biting her lip. This Volkner guy was _not_ who she would have wanted to be found by. She was happy she was located by someone as kind and easy-going as Morty.

"Volkner, I can make my own decisions about my training. If your way doesn't work for me, it doesn't work. What's so wrong with me trying Lance's way? I don't understand what the big deal is." Penny shook her head and her hair rustled around.

"You don't know the first thing about _training_. Everything you know is what I've taught you. I'm the one who's done everything for you since you got here and you're just going to say 'bye-bye, found someone better', is that it?" He growled at her, stepping close and making Eevee hop out of the way. Behind Penny, Claire debated taking a step forward. She didn't like this man speaking this way about her best friend, but she also had been told good things about him by Penny when they were playing with her Eevee.

"Is that what this is about? You're jealous because I'm going to spend some time with someone other than you? Well newsflash, I've learned things from the other guys too. You know I'm grateful for everything you've done for me, so stop shoving it in my face. You're being ridiculous." Penny didn't back down against this man and Claire folded her arms; Penny wasn't much of a fighter but she could win an argument.

"Ridiculous? Trying to help you is ridiculous now?" Volkner narrowed his eyes at her and his hand shot to his belt. "If it's so ridiculous and you're so _knowledgable_, then defeat us." He threw the pokeball on the ground and it bounced back into his hand as it released his Rotom. "Defeat us in this ghost gym and you just go right on training with whoever the hell you want."

Penny's eyes widened for a second before she slowly nodded. "If that's what you want then fine. We'll battle you." She snapped her fingers and walked away from Volkner as Eevee hopped over to her trainer.

"Penny really...? He's a gym leader." Claire warned.

"Let them." It was Lance. His voice was deep and his eyes were on the hot-headed Volkner who was walking across the gym as his Rotom floated behind him. Claire bit her lip and nodded a bit, following Lance off the battlefield and taking a seat on the bottom-most bleacher next to the group of men who had gathered there.

"I don't get what your issue is about all this, but we'll do our best against you." Penny said and pointed at the hovering Rotom. "Eevee, Bite!" She bit her lip as she watched her little normal-type pokemon rush at her opponent, who Penny already knew was half electric type and half ghost. Eevee's normal attacks would never hit Rotom.

"Don't let her near you. Charge. Just wait it out." Volkner instructed. Penny frowned. The little floating pokemon absorbed energy and began violently sparking. Penny grit her teeth as she waited and suddenly Volkner flicked his hair with one hand. "Discharge." He was so fluidly calm. It almost unnerved her.

"Eevee! Sand-Attack!" She shouted. She, on the other hand, was a lot more emotional of a battler than Volkner appeared to be. The differences between the two of them on the battlefield were already greatly apparent and not only in terms of skill-level. Her Eevee hurled sand and dirt from the gym floor up at Rotom, causing it to wobble around a little and it exploded energy from its small body. "Dodge it, hurry!" Penny shouted, but Eevee yipped in pain. "Eevee!" Penny bit her lip and shook her head. "Are you alright?"

On the sidelines, the others all watched with varying reactions. Steven sighed heavily and leaned his elbows on his knees. "He chose Rotom on purpose. Eevee is her only pokemon and Penny is limited to using only a handful of moves against Rotom for any affect. Only one of those moves inflicts damage." He shook his head.

"It will be over quickly, unfortunately." Falkner chimed in. Beside him, Claire was staring with wide eyes, worriedly watching the battle.

"Confuse Ray." Volkner instructed.

"Eevee, don't let it hit you!" Penny shouted. The Rotom dove in close to Eevee as the little fox tried to jump out of the way but Rotom was too fast. Eevee's large ears were caught by the beam and she stumbled around a bit, obviously affected by the attack. "Oh Eevee..." She glared at Volkner. "You're purposefully playing dirty. You picked your _one_ pokemon that Eevee and I are ineffective against!" She shouted angrily and stomped her foot on the ground.

"Overcoming weaknesses is something you'll have to lean how to do on your own since you won't be learning it from _me_." Volkner said, his tone snarky. "Rotom, Thunder Shock." Rotom floated above the stumbling, confused Eevee and let loose a yellow bolt of electricity right on the tiny pokemon. Eevee yelped and fell into a crumpled little ball on the floor.

Penny froze and began to shake as she stared at her beloved Eevee, who lay motionless. "Eevee!" Penny screamed. Eevee didn't move. "No..." Her eyes welled with tears and she bolted toward her fallen pokemon. Volkner pulled Rotom's pokeball from his belt when suddenly Eevee's little screams echoed through the room. Penny stopped short of grabbing Eevee and stared, a tear sneaking down her shocked face as Eevee's body began to change.

"What's happening?" Claire asked, a hand against her chest from all the excitement. She glanced at the men sitting near her and none of them took their eyes off the battle to even answer her.

"Eevee...?" Penny timidly reached forward and Eevee jumped up as Penny realized... this was no longer Eevee. "You..." The newly lilac shaded pokemon flicked her beautiful forked tail in the air and tilted her head. The deep purple eyes and white pupils searched Penny's face and the red gem on her forehead sparkled in the light of the gym. "You're... Espeon." Penny was breathless. The beautiful pokemon before her mewled in a beautiful, enchanting voice.

"We continuing or are you and... _Espeon_ going to sit there and stare at each other all day?" Volkner asked.

Penny stood up and wiped her face for a minute, patting Espeon gently on the head and then heading back to the trainer box at her end of the field. "Espeon..." She glared daggers at Volkner. "Confusion." She bit her lip, knowing Espeon was weak to ghost moves.

"Dodge it, Rotom." Volkner was just as calm as before. Espeon zoomed across the battlefield on nimble legs and shot the psychic attack off right in front of Rotom; the pokemon didn't have a chance of stopping in time and was hit head on with the attack. Volkner grit his teeth and Penny's hands formed fists at her sides.

"Alright, hurry and Psybeam!" She was hoping Rotom had fallen prey to the confusion status as Eevee had.

"Don't give her time. Ominous Wind." Volkner instructed.

Beside Claire, Morty's eyebrows raised at the usage of a ghost move in his gym and he nodded a little. "This decides it." He said softly. The group watched as the Psybeam and the ghostly wind hit and struggled against one another for a split second before the wind blew the psychic attack away and Espeon wailed as she was hit with her weakness, ghost attacks. Espeon stumbled a little and collapsed onto the floor. Volkner recalled Rotom before anyone had the chance to decide if Espeon was able to continue or not.

Penny hurried out onto the battlefield and pulled her psychic pokemon into her lap. "You _evolved_ so we could fight him better, didn't you...?" She cooed. The tired, injured psychic in her lap mewled and flicked her tail weakly. Penny leaned down and gave Espeon a kiss on her head and gently tapped her with her pokeball. "You did an amazing job... thank you." Espeon disappeared into her pokeball and Penny stood up, looking over at Volkner.

"I didn't expect you to know what to do with her when she evolved." He admitted, but he sounded so offended.

Penny watched him as she shrunk Espeon's pokeball and hooked it to her jeans. "I told you before, Volkner: I have _studied_. I'm not as dumb with pokemon as you think I am." Her eyes were a little reddened from the tears they'd spouted during the battle.

"Hn. Well. You didn't beat us." He stuffed his hands in the pockets of his track jacket. "But I guess knowing how to handle an in-battle type change evolution is _decent_." He glanced toward the door. "Espeon's going to want the Center." His voice was a little quieter, but it held the hardened edge from the battle.

Penny glanced over at the spectators and waved at Claire. "Come on, we're going to find the Pokemon Center." She said and started toward the door. Claire hopped up from her seat but her wrist was caught by a gentle hand.

"I'll show you where it is." Morty rose and walked with Claire after the emotional Eevee trainer.

As the rest of the group filed out of the gym to accompany the trio to the Center, Volkner hung back. He swallowed a little and ran a hand through his hair. He'd really hurt her Eev—Espeon. He hadn't necessarily meant to go that hard on her, but he couldn't apologize now. It would demean everything he'd shown her during the battle.

"Are you satisfied?" Lance had apparently chosen to stay behind as well.

Volkner reached for his pack of cigarettes in his pocket only to discover he'd smoked his very last one. "She learned something." This was not the response Lance had anticipated.

"And what did she learn, exactly? How to lose graciously? I thought she handled it well, all things considered." He shook his head and began to follow where the others had already left.

"She learned how to deal with evolution in battle, for starters. But she also learned what it feels like to be completely helpless and unable to take hold of a situation." Volkner said, though Lance had already walked off and he knew the man was no longer listening. He, too, shook his head and decided on cigarettes at the convenience store, _then_ he would join the others at the Center.

〜〜〜

Later that night, the group had taken up residence at Morty's home, which greatly reminded the girls of a large, traditional Japanese estate. The girls had been given a room to share and Penny was grateful she would no longer have to spend the night in a room with a random selection from her assortment of attractive male friends.

"Today was... something else." Claire said, reclining on her futon. Since she had come to the pokemon world, she had stayed in this particular room at Morty's place. She looked over at her friend who was petting the fully refreshed Espeon as the psychic pokemon lay draped across her trainer's lap.

"Yeah. It was... unexpected to be sure. Every single part of it." Penny mused, watching Espeon close her eyes and revel in the affection she was receiving.

"You know, I can't believe you showed up here too. It's all so nuts. You and I are in the world of _pokemon_. And I mean... you've _got_ one. The guys, while you were getting Espeon fixed up, they said they wanted to start me up a team of my own." Claire sat up and looked out the open door of their room. The outer doors of the rooms in Morty's house all slid open to reveal his garden that was complete with a viewing pond and a few small shade trees.

"I think that would be good for you. Having one of your own might help you out here. It's helped me." Penny was still speaking softly; her behavior worried her friend, who had never known Penny to seem so withdrawn.

"What about battling...? How do you feel about it, really?" Claire glanced back at the blonde. Nothing could make her forget the frightened scream of her friend, worrying for the safety of her pokemon.

"It's not easy. But fighting with Volkner today really made me realize how much I want to get stronger. If I _am_ stronger, and if Espeon gets stronger, incidents like today won't be of any frequency. We'll be able to fight effectively so that she's not hurt like she was today. We just have to try harder." She cooed the last part to her pokemon, who mewled even with her eyes still closed. Claire nodded a little and watched the two for a minute before turning her blankets down and getting ready for bed. Falkner had offered to help her out with her own endeavors, of which she was grateful. She sighed as she snuggled against her pillow. If battling caused that much pain to the pokemon and that much emotional anguish to the trainer, she wasn't entirely convinced that it was something she'd be able to find interest in.


	6. Chapter 6

_Chapter Six_

The group had stayed in Ecruteak for a week. True to his word, Falkner had done his best to let his flying types befriend Claire. She _was_ pretty receptive to most of them and his Pidgeot had taken a particular shying to her. The pair had gone out looking for wild pokemon together one day near the Lake of Rage when Claire had informed him that she had always possessed a fondness for Magikarp. Thinking it the perfect opportunity to get a relatively harmless pokemon for the girl, Falkner fished one out for her and gave it to her in a brightly colored Heal Ball. Claire played with her Magikarp in Morty's pond for a few days before Falkner saw fit to go on another expedition with her. He had had to fly back and forth to Violet City to take a few trainer challengers at the gym, but he'd returned each night to let his birds spend some time with Claire and her Magikarp.

"Claire, do you know what other kinds of pokemon you'd feel comfortable owning?" Falkner asked, brushing some of his hair from his face. He looked over at the girl who was peering around in the forest that the pair were strolling through.

"Oh, well... I don't know. It's all so different in real life, it's hard to say if I'd like the ones _here_ that I seemed to like the ideas of back home." She smiled over at him and when their eyes met, she felt her cheeks heat up a little. Falkner was handsome and he was quite the gentleman to boot. It fascinated her that he was as close to a Japanese person from back home as anybody else she'd met, even Morty who seemed to live in a house fit more for Falkner than for himself. Falkner sported traditional Japanese-style men's kimono and even samurai-style pants. There were, of course, differences since Japan and its customs did not actually exist in the pokemon world, but they were similar enough.

"That makes sense." Falkner was saying. Claire blushed a little more at realizing she'd been observing him so closely. Suddenly he put his arm out in front of her and glanced around, his other hand slowly going to his sash belt where his pokeballs were secured.

"What is it?" Claire inched close to him; she didn't know if there were dangerous pokemon in this forest or not, but she didn't exactly want to be far from Falkner if there _were_. Falkner shook his head and pointed toward some shaking bushes nearby. He stood his ground and waited: the shaking was approaching them. Claire frowned and swallowed hard. She didn't like just waiting to see what was about to jump out and attack them, but Falkner was highly capable and she tried to reassure herself that she was perfectly safe with him. A moment later, stumbling out of the bushes came a round, wobbly little pokemon, chewing on some leaves.

"A Munchlax." Falkner said and glanced at the girl who was now clinging to his sleeve. "He won't bother you, don't worry." He gave her a reassuring smile.

Claire shook her head and pointed to the silly pokemon who began meandering down the footpath. "No, it's not that..." She bit her lip. "I think it's cute."

Falkner's eyebrows raised for a moment and he turned back to watch the Munchlax talking to himself as he wandered ahead of them. "You do, huh...?" He got a grin on his face and nodded. "Alright then. A Munchlax." He tossed a pokeball in the air and his Xatu appeared before the two of them. "Xatu, Claire would like to have that Munchlax up ahead, wouldn't you, Claire?" He glanced at the girl who was kind of gawking at him.

"I... Really? We're going to catch him?" She looked between Falkner, Xatu and the bumbling Munchlax who was taste-testing a rock and promptly spit it out.

"If that's what you want, then you only have to tell us." Falkner hadn't intentionally meant to be suave but Claire blushed, regardless.

"Well... if that's okay then... yes." She slowly released his sleeve that she still clung to and nodded.

"Alright, Xatu. You know what to do." Falkner said. Xatu nodded and disappeared, making Claire gasp. "Just watch... he knows what he's doing." Falkner grinned at Claire who stared at the Munchlax. Suddenly, Xatu reappeared in front of the little pokemon, startling it so badly that it stumbled backward onto its rear. Xatu pecked at it a few times and the Munchlax scurried to his feet and dashed toward Falkner and Claire.

"F-Falkner!" Claire's eyes widened and Falkner stood in front of her, staring menacingly at the frightened normal type.

"I'll protect you." He said. "Xatu, use—" He was unable to instruct his pokemon as Munchlax ran right around him and Claire and latched on to the girl's leg, trembling and chatter-boxing to the humans. Both Falkner and Claire stared at it for a moment before looking up at each other. "I..." Falkner was at a loss.

Claire slowly bent over and watched the pokemon attached to her. "Are... you scared?" She asked and the Munchlax nodded its head rapidly. "Oh... Falkner, we scared him." She gently reached to pat Munchlax's head. "Xatu won't hurt you." She smiled a little.

"Actually," Falkner kneeled in front of Munchlax and smiled thinly, "We were trying to see if you wanted to join this lovely lady here." He glanced up at Claire, who had pink cheeks at such a compliment. He chuckled softly and nodded. "Of course, perhaps we were a little too rough in our asking you, weren't we? Well, how's this then: if you join her, we'll all make sure you get all kinds of tasty treats whenever we get our hands on them." He grinned and winked at Claire. She swallowed a little and nodded to him; she knew about Munchlax and its evolution and their almost insatiable appetites. This was a good strategy. The Munchlax thought for a moment before he looked up at Claire with an excited nod.

"You'll... join us?!" She was beaming. Munchlax nodded again and Claire leaned down, hoisting her new pokemon up into the air with a giggle. "Oh thank you! I'm so happy to meet you!" She gave him a hug and Munchlax returned it as best as he could. She put him back on the ground and pulled a Heavy Ball out of her bag; Falkner had purchased a variation of specialty pokeballs for his walks with her, just in case they came across anything the girl may want. "Okay, here's your brand new pokeball. If you get inside, it'll be easier for us to take you back to where we're staying and you won't get all tired out." She held it out to Munchlax who observed her for a moment and nodded. "Great!" She gently tapped his head with the ball and he nearly jumped inside it.

"Well. That was by far the most _interesting_ capture I think I've ever witnessed." Falkner laughed.

Claire giggled and gently placed Munchlax in her bag next to Magikarp's pokeball. "I know! But I'm so happy we came out here today." She blushed a little and smiled at her training mentor. "Thanks... Falkner."

Falkner smiled warmly back at her and brushed some of his hair from his eyes. "No need to thank me. I'm more than happy to help you whenever you need me, Claire." Claire's smile widened and as she and Falkner began their walk once again, this time with Xatu at their side, she made a mental note to tell Penny about Falkner's flirtatious attitude today.

〜〜〜

"Alrighty! Once more, Eevee!" Penny instructed. Beside her stood Espeon, swishing her forked tail in the air. Earlier in the week, Penny had begun training with Lance in the woods on the outskirts of Ecruteak City. Lance had only used Dragonite in their training sessions and he'd never once allowed his dragon to attack the Espeon. Instead, he focused on defending so Penny could learn how to better attack opponents, especially those much stronger than her current pokemon. One particular day, he had led her to a stream so they could let their pokemon share a break and get some fresh, spring water. While Dragonite and Espeon were resting together beside the stream, Lance had gone off to pick some berries for everyone to share. Penny had seated herself on the bank of the stream and started to sing a little song to herself. When Lance returned, he was absolutely astounded to find Penny seated amidst various forest pokemon, all of whom seemed enraptured by her voice. He'd never seen a human being control pokemon with song like that. In her lap lay a fluffy, perfectly content Eevee: her brand new partner. After that, Eevee began training with Espeon. Lance had instructed her to train her pokemon against one another and once the pair was ready, he would start them off training with Dragonite again.

Earlier in the day, Lance had gotten a call in the neighboring city from the League commission, a call he had to heed to. He'd left Penny in the forest to train, confident in her abilities with two pokemon and reassured in the fact that she now had her very own Xtransceiver, imported from the Unova region, so she could call anyone if she needed anything. She was also not very far from town so she was not entirely alone in the wilderness, either.

"It's starting to get late, gang. What do you say we head back to Morty's for dinner? I bet someone's already started cooking." Penny smiled at her two pokemon, both of whom yipped at her. She pulled a pokeball from her belt when she heard rustling in the trees, but not the rustling from a breeze. This rustling was too localized for that... something was there. "Espeon... use Swift at that tree." Penny said quietly. Espeon hopped in front of her and let loose a Swift attack right where the branches of the tree had been shaking. Suddenly there were shaking branches in the tree behind Eevee and the little pokemon growled. "There!" Penny instructed, this time louder. Espeon hissed and used another attack. Again, the shaking branches moved to another location.

"Taming pokemon with the power of your song." A mysterious voice came from one of the shaking trees.

Penny looked around and her pokemon ran over beside her. "Who's there?" This didn't feel right.

"Only a _Voice_ has the power to manipulate song to affect pokemon." The same voice came from a different tree and Penny jumped a little in shock.

"Show yourself!" She shouted, her hands forming fists.

"Impatient." From yet another location. Penny swallowed and tried to keep her wits about her but she was nervous... and she seemed to somehow be surrounded.

"I don't want to play your games, just come out if a battle is what you're looking for." Whatever this disembodied voice was spouting off, none of it made any sense. What was going on? Eevee yipped and growled beside her and Penny's attention snapped to the direction the little pokemon faced, his fur bristling on his tail. Penny's body went cold: a Bisharp.

"Do you remember...?" The voice again. Penny began shaking.

"Little Rattata..." From a different tree.

Penny's eyes widened and she immediately had a flashback to the ship. "N-No..." She gulped and felt her heart pound as she eyed the Bisharp. There was no way these mysterious voices belonged to the three ninjas from the ship... but it made sense. That would explain the same sounding voice coming from multiple locations hidden in the treetops. She snapped back to reality when Bisharp began slowly advancing on her and her team. "S-Stay away! Espeon, Protect!" She shouted. A barrier formed around the group and the Bisharp immediately ran toward it, slashing at it. Espeon snarled and her glowing eyes narrowed as she tried to keep the barrier up. Beside Penny, Eevee was pushing on her leg with his head, yipping at her. "Y-Yeah, we should get out of here." Penny nodded. It was starting to get dark and there was no way she wanted to get lost in the woods with these murderers. Her heart skipped a beat: _murderers_. She took a stumbling step backward when she heard something behind her. She spun around and whimpered uncontrollably. Behind her stood another Bisharp. Eevee jumped in front of his trainer and yipped. "No, you're not... you can't get close to that thing." Penny shook her head and Eevee yipped at her again, stomping his foot. Penny's heart was racing and she glanced back at the Bisharp who was hacking through Espeon's protective barrier. "Okay, okay... but he's part _steel_." She whispered to herself. "Alright, just do a Take Down. But get _away_ from it after!" She shouted to Eevee, who nodded and dashed outside of the barrier to the second Bisharp. His attack landed, but Bisharp immediately swatted the little pokemon into a nearby tree with a sickening crunch. Penny yelped and shook her head. "Eevee!" Her eyes filled with tears instantly as the Bisharp glanced at the little pokemon for slowly, shakily, getting to his feet. "Just stay down!" She whimpered. Eevee snarled a little and looked over at Penny with pleading eyes; he still wanted to fight for her. Penny pushed some of her disheveled hair from her face and tried to pull herself together. "Alright, Quick-Attack." She knew his normal attacks were not going to deal any serious blows because these Bisharp were clearly stronger than her Eevees. The brown pokemon was so fast he turned into a blur as he charged the Bisharp but met the same fate as he was smacked away onto the ground.

"Futile." The voices from the trees were back to taunt her.

Penny put her hands to her head and shook it. "Shut up!" She screamed but realized she was not screaming alone. Eevee was howling up at the freshly risen moon. "Eevee?" She gulped as she watched his body contorting and his fur slowly darkening: evolution. She gawked on as her little Eevee grew considerably in size into a large, snarling dark-type Umbreon. He barked at Penny, a menacing sound. Penny nodded a little. "Pursuit!" She shouted and he delivered a blow that was not thrown off. The Bisharp fell to its knee and Umbreon walked over, snarling and barking. "Faint Attack!" Penny screamed as Umbreon continued to beat up the second Bisharp.

_Espie!_ Behind her, Espeon screamed and Penny spun around. The first Bisharp had broken through the barrier and knocked her Espeon away. Penny's eyes widened and she scrambled out of the way as the Bisharp came straight for _her_. She jumped over to the tree where she'd laid her bag and threw it over her shoulder. Pulling Espeon's pokeball from her belt, she recalled the shivering, injured psychic who was very weak to dark pokemon. Umbreon hopped over to his trainer and stood in front of her as she backed up against a tree. The Bisharp duo advanced on the two of them, the second one having shaken off the blows it'd received from Umbreon.

Penny looked around for an out, but these pokemon had her and her team blocked. "Umbreon, I'm sorry. Return!" She shouted and as the pokemon barked to protest, he was pulled back into his pokeball. "I don't want you to hurt my pokemon anymore if it's _me_ you want!" She screamed at the Bisharp. She knew that's why these people were here: for her. She'd witnessed the murder of that crewman on the ship and she was a liability to be left alive, she was certain.

"Bisharp, Power-Up Punch." The tree-voice again. The first Bisharp lowered its head and eyed Penny as it jumped for her. She screamed as the Bisharp hit her with the back of its hand, sending her skidding and rolling across the ground with its show of strength. She coughed and pushed herself up on shaking arms. So _this_ was what her pokemon felt when they got hit... because she wasn't strong enough to protect and instruct them. The Bisharp stalked over as Penny spit blood out of her mouth and reached up to her nose to discover more blood; the first hit had busted her lip and nose and caused a cut on the outside of her cheek. She was so afraid she could hardly breathe and was far too frightened to run away.

"Fire Punch!" A new voice. Penny looked up to see bright flames soaring through the air and colliding with the first Bisharp. She yelped as she was grabbed up off the ground and pressed against a warm chest. "Penny, are you alright?" It was Lance.

Penny was still shaking and she shook her head. "N-No, Espeon and Umbreon, they—"

"They'll be fine. Dragonite, Hyper Beam!" Lance bellowed and hoisted her up into his arms, cradling her as she clung to him. "Let's get out of here, Penny's injured!" As Dragonite lit up the forest with a Hyper Beam worthy of being the number one pokemon of a region champion, he jumped over to Lance, who put Penny up on the dragon's back and he hopped on behind her. "Go!" Dragonite soared with speed that the injured girl had never experienced before as she clung tightly, desperately so she wouldn't fall off. Lance leaned down and pressed her between his body and Dragonite's as they sped through the black night sky.

〜〜〜

Dragonite flew around in the sky above Ecruteak for awhile after the trio had fled the scene to throw off any potential pursuers in the air or following on the ground. Lance had taken Penny's bag and put her pokeballs inside as he put it on his own back. The pair hadn't spoken yet and Lance feared the worst for the girl's mental well-being and her relationship to pokemon after being outright attacked. He was infuriated that he couldn't have arrived a second sooner to protect her.

"Penny." He was quiet and in front of him, Penny slowly turned her head. "Turn around. You won't fall." He instructed. Penny went to bite her lip but flinched, remembering that it was sliced open. She pulled her legs up carefully and turned around, facing Dragonite's tail and Lance, returning her legs on either side of the dragon's back. Lance observed her for a minute: her face was covered in blood and dirt that was all smeared with various trails from fallen tears. Her clothes were dirty and torn, exposing scrapes she'd gotten from skidding across the ground. He grit his teeth. "I'm sorry I was late." He said and shook his head. "I shouldn't have left you alone in the woods like that." He watched her swallow and her split lower lip quivered a little.

"You didn't know." Her voice came out raspy and strained. Lance felt a pain in his chest. Seeing her like this felt like a blow to his abilities as a protector of the people, as a pokemon trainer, as her _friend_. "I... I couldn't protect them." She whimpered and her eyes burned from the salt in her tears. "E-Espeon and Umbreon, I wasn't fast enough... I was too afraid. I wasn't good enough and because I couldn't tell them what to do they were hurt." She swallowed hard and whimpered a little, closing her eyes tightly as tears fell down her dirty cheeks. Crying hurt. Her face was cut and scraped and the tears burned as they came in contact with her flesh. Her nose throbbed as did her lip. But none of this stopped her tears.

"Penny..." Lance sighed and scooted forward on Dragonite, lifting her chin gently. "Look at me." He spoke in a low voice, a soft one. She slowly met his eyes and he shook his head at her. "You did your best. What can somebody ask of you other than your best? Why were they back in their pokeballs? Why did _you_ get attacked by that Bisharp?" He watched her as she reached up to carefully try to wipe her eyes and not get dirt or blood in them.

"B-Because I wanted to protect them. They'd already gotten hurt so I recalled them." She shivered.

Lance leaned down close to her face, a serious look on his own. "Do you know how much courage that took? I know so many powerful trainers who would not have had the guts to take on a pokemon like that all on their own. You have so much potential, I can see it. It just takes time and practice. You _are_ a good trainer." He stared into her eyes with his chestnut ones glimmering with determination. Penny's green eyes blinked a few tears onto her cheeks as she listened to his words. The pair was silent for a minute before she burst into a fresh fit of tears, this time, leaning forward and latching on to Lance around his neck. Lance blinked in surprise but sighed softly and wrapped his arms around her, gently rubbing her back as his other hand rested lightly on the back of her head. "It's okay now. You're all safe. It'll be alright. Dragonite will take us to the hospital and we'll get you and the pokemon taken care of, alright?" He said this order a little louder so his Dragonite could hear and the dragon rumbled a soft reply, changing his course. Penny clung to Lance and cried into his shoulder, burying her face on him. He sighed again and gave her a light squeeze. This situation was becoming a lot more serious than anyone had previously thought, and a lot sooner than any of them had anticipated.


	7. Chapter 7

_Chapter Seven_

"I just..." It was Claire's voice. "How could this happen?"

"We haven't told you everything that's gone on since Penny's arrival to our world." Morty this time. Penny was laying in her futon with the door to the garden open. A few rooms over, Claire and Morty must have been doing the same since their voices were so audible. She lay there listening to their voices and their conversation as Morty recollected to Claire the experiences her friend had had since coming to the world of pokemon, and _he_ didn't leave out the bad ones like Penny had. When he finished, there was a silence in the house and all that was heard was the chitter of the bird pokemon outside. It seemed like they were the only three in the house right now.

"She..." Claire sounded unsure of what to say. "I didn't know that happened on the ship they were on." Penny almost had trouble hearing the other girl due to the lowering volume of Claire's voice.

"Penny probably didn't want to frighten you." Morty gave a big, audible sigh afterward. "Now that she's been outright attacked... we have to take more serious measures. You girls shouldn't be alone anywhere; one of us needs to be with you at all times."

"If Lance hadn't have come along to save her when he did..." Claire trailed off. Penny stared at the ceiling and gripped the blankets. Lance was the only reason she and her pokemon had escaped. It was no thanks to her at all. She had been completely ineffective against the Bisharp duo. She couldn't stand this. She _had_ to get stronger. She had to protect herself, her pokemon and she had the new burning desire to protect Claire. She did not want what happened to her to happen to her friend. Slowly, she sat up and winced a little; she was sore. Lance and Dragonite had taken her to the Ecruteak General Hospital and Dragonite had taken her pokemon to the Center by himself while Lance stayed with her. When they had come back to Morty's, everyone had gone into immediate panic over Penny's disheveled appearance. She'd been mostly cleaned up at the hospital and she had bandaids and various other bandages wherever necessary; her face had a few small scrapes and two long, thin bandages held the cut in her cheek closed. Her nose was slightly bruised and her lip, now that it was free of blood, was red and swollen with a dark red gash in the middle. Claire had taken her to Morty's bathroom and helped her with a hot bath while Lance told the others what had occurred.

**_Slide._** Penny turned to see Claire slowly sliding their door open from the inner hallway.

"Hey... how are you feeling?" She was speaking gently, as if her friend were now fragile; for all anyone else knew, Penny _was_, mentally speaking, very fragile.

"I'm okay." Penny sighed and pushed herself up off the floor as Claire hurried to her side.

"Whoa, take it easy. Where are you going?" Claire took Penny's arm to help her, but Penny took a step back.

"I need to talk to Morty. Where are the others?" She pulled a hair tie from her wrist and threw her hair up into a ponytail as she spoke.

"Well, Steven said he was going to investigate some things at the Ecruteak Library, Falkner had a gym battle back in Violet and Lance said he had some G-Men errands to run. I'm not sure where Volkner went." Claire ran her fingers through her own hair and sighed as she observed her friend. Penny was clean, bathed and wearing fresh clothes but her scabbing lip and the bandages on her face were all evidences of last night's traumas.

Penny nodded as she listened to these explanations. "Lance is gone." She muttered. "Where's Morty?" She motioned for Claire to follow her and the auburn haired girl did, frowning in confusion as Penny grabbed her dirty white backpack as she went.

"He's in the living room." Claire walked beside Penny, observing her. Her friend's tone wasn't quite right but she attributed it to the horrible events she had endured. All of these things together culminated in Claire's mind to determine that this world was even more dangerous than their own. There had been a time when she'd thought that perhaps this world could be safer with pokemon to protect people, but she'd come to realize that just as well as they could protect, they could injure or even worse.

"Morty." Penny said as she entered the living room; she didn't sit down.

He turned to her, his Sableye sitting perched in his lap and chomping on a few rose quartz specimens that Steven had gifted to him as treats. "I'm glad to see you up and moving around, Penny." Morty smiled sympathetically. "If it's the remotest consolation to you, you look like a G-Man with those face bandages." He was trying to make her feel better about the situation.

Penny watched him for a minute. "I need to go train." Her statement brought a gasp from Claire and two very elevated eyebrows from the ghost master in front of her.

"Penny!" Claire shook her head. "You can't, not in your condition. The Pokemon Centers might have amazing restorative technology for _pokemon_ but we're just human. We don't heal like they can."

Penny shot her friend an unintentional glare, but immediately tried to soften it apologetically. "You don't understand." She said and turned back to Morty. "I _have_ to go train. I have to be strong." Her eyes fell to the floor and her hands made fists at her side. "I have to fight them off." She grit her teeth.

Morty watched her from where he sat on a black and purple floor pillow on the polished wooden floor. This was not what he had expected from her, but he was not at all disappointed with such fiery determination; on the contrary, he was _pleased_. "I understand. If you'd like, Volkner is in the gym." He suggested, his tone a little unsure. "I know you prefer _not_ to train with him, but Lance is currently out of town on orders. He mentioned that he would be back around sundown, but that is a little late for training." He took a moment to give Sableye a pat on the head. The only noise between their conversation was the hard crunch of the gems in the pokemon's mouth.

Penny stood still for a minute as she weighed her options and turned on her heel, heading for the door where everyone's shoes were kept. "Thanks, Morty."

"Penny!" Claire protested and followed the blonde to the door. "What are you doing, you shouldn't be exerting yourself after what happened. Give yourself some time to rest." She pleaded as Penny slid on her blue sneakers.

"Claire," Penny stood up and looked at her friend, a little sadly. Claire blinked, having expected Penny to be a little sharp with her like before. "I have to get stronger. What if those people attack me again? What if no one's there next time? I have to be able to take care of myself." She hoisted her backpack onto her shoulder. "And I want to be able to keep you safe, too." She left Claire standing in the entryway, shocked at the protective change that had come over her normally non-confrontational friend.

〜〜〜

Morty would have escorted Penny to the gym for her own safety had it not been immediately next door to his estate. Both the gym and Morty's estate were on the far end of town and were relatively out of the way. Penny entered the gym and looked around, spotting Volkner sitting alone on the bleachers. He didn't notice her entrance. She walked a little closer and cleared her throat, catching his attention. He looked over at her and Penny made her way over to him.

"Hi." She said and sat down next to him, putting her bag on the other side of her lap.

"Hey." He was quiet in his response. He was staring at her.

"What... are you doing alone in here?" She glanced at him and saw his gaze floating from one bandage on her face to another.

Volkner frowned and tore his eyes away from her. "Trying to keep myself from finding those bastards and killing them." Had his words not shown his violence, his tone would have. Penny nodded a little. "I'm sorry that happened..." His words were unfamiliar in his mouth and they bought all of Penny's attention.

She turned toward him and watched him with furrowed brows. "You... You're sorry?" She shook her head. "Well I mean... _you_ didn't do this to me." She shrugged.

"Yes I did." He spat the words out. "More or less."

"What?" Penny arched an eyebrow as she carefully crossed her bruised legs.

"I basically _drove_ you to train with Lance. If you weren't training with _him_, you'd have been with _me_. And I wouldn't have had to leave all the damn time like he does." His hands were gripping the bleachers; his knuckles were white... white except for the ones that were a little bruised.

Penny frowned and reached to lightly run a fingertip along one of his bruised knuckles. "What's this?" She almost whispered.

Volkner glanced down at their hands and pulled his away. "Nothing." He was short with her, which was almost like normal.

Penny sighed; she could have guessed what it was from, anyway. He was angry about her attack and he'd probably punched a hole in something somewhere. She kind of hoped it wasn't a some_one_. "Hey... I want you to help me with something today." She cleared her throat, trying to quell some of his violent anger that was almost visibly boiling up inside of him.

"What?"

"Training." Her words made him meet his eyes with hers.

"You want me to train you?" He was frowning even deeper now. "Why?"

"Lance isn't here." She wasn't going to lie to him.

Volkner scoffed at her a little and shook his head. "He's your hero, huh?" These words were spoken begrudgingly. Penny didn't reply, she only looked unsurely around the room. He sighed heavily and stood up. "Come on." He shoved his hands in his pants pockets and started off toward the back door of the gym.

Penny blinked and grabbed her bag as she hurried after him. "Where are we going?" They exited the back of the gym and Volkner led her into the woods behind it.

"You were attacked in the woods outside Ecruteak City." He said as he walked ahead of her. Penny hopped across stray roots and rocks as she followed. They were not walking on any actual footpaths or trails. "So I figure you have some form of dislike, maybe even fear for these forests, right?" He cast her a glance as they made their way deeper and deeper into the woods.

"I... Maybe." Penny glanced around. The forests around Ecruteak all _did _have the same trees and other vegetation so they were all very similar. If she tried, she could imagine any of these small clearings they were passing to be where she had been attacked.

"Well we've got to fix that. Lance mentioned last night after you'd gone to bed that while the two of you were escaping, you had said you froze up. You already know you can't do that. You've seen what can happen." He finally stopped walking when they got to another random clearing. "I want to train you in a place you're uncomfortable with, somewhere that makes you unsure, nervous. That'll help us work on your battle skills and not freezing up when it counts."

Penny nodded slowly. He had a point, even if she _was_ uncomfortable with it. She really _was_ training with Volkner again. He had a way of training her that pushed her further than she wanted to go, pushed her further than she felt safe or comfortable with. For once, however, she would not complain to him; this was his way of helping her and she knew that. "Okay. I'll try." She glanced around since all their talk had her already feeling nervous.

"I want to talk to you before we start." He said and she looked up at him. He was wearing an expression she hadn't seen since her first few days in the pokemon world: concern. "How are you?"

"I'm alright. Still sore and if I bug my cuts too much then they hurt but..." Penny shrugged.

"No that isn't what I meant. I can see you trying not to limp. I've been thrown around by a pokemon or two, myself, I know when someone's hiding an injury. But that's not what I'm asking about." He stepped closer to her. "I'm asking about what I can't see by looking at you. How _are_ you?" He pressed.

Penny glanced away from him and swallowed a little. "I'm trying, Volkner. I'm _scared_ and I hate being scared. I didn't think it'd be this _scary_ in this world. I'm... I'm not afraid of Umbreon or Espeon. And I don't think I'm afraid of anybody else's pokemon either. But..." She reached up and rubbed her arm. "I think if I were to ever see another Bisharp anywhere, I'd panic."

Volkner listened quietly as he looked her over. He knew there were scrapes and bruises under the skinny jeans and light green pullover she was wearing. He stepped close to her and gently reached out to touch the bandages on her cheek. Penny flinched and stared up at him with surprised eyes. "I know it pisses you off when I try to protect you, but I feel like I'm supposed to be the one to do it. I've had you with me since you got here." He cupped her cheek in his hand. "And here you're off running around with _Lance_, my boss. I guess it's the dragons that have your eyes sparkling. Probably his muscles that make you blush when he's around, isn't that right?" Volkner was muscular as well, he had to be in the line of work he was in, but Lance was bulkier than the other guys.

Penny took a step back from Volkner and pushed his hand away from her. "What are you talking about? You're being stupid." She was already turning pink in the cheeks and Volkner was not slow to notice.

"Blushing just thinking about him." He let loose an airy laugh. "Do you know how _opposed_ to having a woman that man is?" He shook his head at her. "You're barking up the wrong tree if you've got it for 'Lance the Dragon Master', Penny. That guy has a one-track mind and it's all on business." His icy blue eyes dug into her green ones.

"Stop it. I don't know where this is coming from but it's _seriously _not what I needed today and you know that." She grit her teeth. He had her heart beating fast and her stomach felt a little upset at his words. So _what_ if she was paying attention to Lance? He _was_ attractive, she'd have to have been blind not to notice that and he _had_ saved her last night.

"You're the kind of girl who wants a relationship, I know you. I've been with you long enough to know that much about you. Hell, I've come on to you enough to figure that out." He ran his fingers through his hair; today he had on fingerless black gloves. Penny shifted uncomfortably between her feet. "But Lance isn't going to give that to you." He continued.

"Oh and what, you're trying to say that someone else will? That _you_ will?" She said it before she realized it and she gulped a little afterward. "You're in the same boat as him. I know _you_ that well. Lance might not want a relationship, but I've yet to see you acting like you do either. If you're with the same girl more than twice then I think this whole world would probably end." She watched him glare at her and he stepped up to her, pushing her into the tree that stood behind her. Penny gasped and stared at him with wide eyes.

"What woman have I tried my damnedest to help and protect since you've known me, huh?" He growled, inches from her face.

Penny pawed at the tree behind her as she stared into those eyes of his. "W-What are you trying to say?" She squeaked out a whisper at him.

Volkner's hands shot to her sides. "You, you dumb ass. I'm trying to go after _you_." He whispered against her lips before he claimed them with his own. The pressure of his mouth on hers hurt her lip and his face pressed against hers, making her nose throb again. Despite this, she found herself returning his kiss. Volkner held her there against the tree for a minute until each found that breathing heavily through their noses was not enough air and he released her. The pair panted a little and stared at one another.

"Volkner, I..." Penny stammered, still leaning against the tree. "How am I supposed to trust you?"

Volkner gawked at her, clearly offended. "_Trust_ me?! I take _care_ of—I _try _to take care of you, when you let me." He frowned.

"No." Penny groaned and closed her eyes for a moment, gently rubbing her throbbing lip and nose. "I _meant_ how can I trust you with... well with anything emotional." She felt her face heating up in a blush and her heart rate began to speed up again. "Are _you_ even aware of your own reputation with women?"

"Of course I am. I made the damn thing." He rolled his eyes at her.

"Well then... Ugh!" She threw her hands in the air. "Then what are you so confused about? I didn't even know you were _serious_ this whole time."

"Well I wasn't to begin with. I just wanted you in bed." He shrugged, and made a face, feeling pretty good about being honest with her.

Penny, however, was put off by such an admission, honest or not. "Of _course_ you did. And for how long has this been a thing? In between wooing all the women of Ecruteak any time any of us go out? How is _that_ going to win my favor?" She frowned.

Volkner took his turn to throw his hands in the air. "What do you _want _from me?" He sighed heavily. "Seriously, you think that while I'm trying to get a thick-headed girl like you to figure out that I'm _actually _going after you, that I'm not going to spend a couple nights with some other girls?" He paused; even _Volkner_ realized what an untrustworthy jerk that statement made him. His pride, however, made him leave it hanging instead of attempting to retract it or apologize for it.

"That's it. Never mind. We're done here. I'm going back to Morty's. I'll just wait until tomorrow and Lance can train me. At least Lance's mind is on _training_ me and not _bedding _me." Penny glared and turned from Volkner, taking a few steps away from him.

"You're going to get _lost_ if you—"

A scream interrupted Volkner's chastisement and Penny spun back around to face him.

"What was that?" She gasped, a hand shooting to her belt and she grabbed a pokeball.

Volkner frowned heavily and stepped closer to her. "It wasn't too far." He muttered and reached for a pokeball of his own.

"What if someone's in trouble?" Penny looked worriedly up at him.

Volkner glanced at her as they heard another scream. "What if it's Bisharp again?" He watched her squirm within herself and she shook her head, finally.

"It doesn't matter, we've got to help whoever's out there." She said. Volkner was satisfied by this response. He nodded and grabbed her hand, taking off in the direction the screams had come from.

The pair reached a clearing with a young woman who was being cornered by a trio of angry, _hungry-_looking Ariados.

Volkner threw his pokeball in the air and Penny took her cue from him, doing the same. Luxray and Umbreon appeared on the scene between the frightened woman and the spider pokemon. "Luxray, Crunch."

"Umbreon, Pursuit!" Penny followed up his attack, standing close to him. "Hey, you! Hurry up, while they're attacking, let's get out of here." She waved to the girl, who looked over at them and hurried over as Penny watched the pokemon.

"Oh my God, thank you. What _are_ those things?" She shook her head a little and stared at the two pokemon these people had brought with them. "Wait a minute, Luxray and _Umbreon?"_ The girl turned toward her saviors and gawked. "_Penny?!"_ Penny's attention was pulled from the battle, as was Volkner's; Penny's friends in this world were all individuals that he knew.

Penny paled as she stared at this girl who was no random, ordinary girl lost in Ecruteak's forests. This girl was her other best friend from her _own_ world: "_Gale?!"_


	8. Chapter 8

_Chapter Eight_

Everyone sat around Morty's low table that he and Volkner had brought into the living room. Claire had pulled the floor pillows from the hallway closet as Penny had begun to inform Gale of their current location and deal with the absurd, unbelievability of their situation.

"I still can't even... _pokemon_." Gale shook her head and sipped on some of the tea that Morty had gotten for the group.

"We're not much better." Volkner muttered. _He_ had a beer. "You girls keep showing up from some other world all over the place and we have to keep acclimating you to this one."

"It's weird for everyone involved." Penny sighed and rubbed her arm a little.

Gale glanced over at the blonde and observed her for a minute before she cleared her throat. "So is it safe to assume that a pokemon did that to you?" She tilted her head and some of her fringe fell across her forehead.

Penny blinked a few times and glanced around the table at the other three. "Yeah. Yeah a pokemon did this." She idly licked the scab on her lip and swallowed a little.

"Geez." Gale sighed and glanced over at the shy little Sableye that hung in the shadows of the room. "These guys don't pull their punches, do they?"

"Not at all." Penny's tone lowered darkly and she stared at her reflection in her tea.

"You're lucky we found you." Volkner added. "I think you might have had a hard time escaping a group of Ariados." This made Gale shake her head and she ran a hand through her short hair.

"Well how about we talk about some _good_ aspects of the world?" Claire suggested. She hated talking about how Penny got hurt, or even the prospect of anyone else being injured.

"Sounds good. Gale, do you want to meet some pokemon who _won't_ try and bite your head off?" She gave her friend a playful grin and Gale laughed a little.

"Bring it on."

〜〜〜

When Steven arrived back at Morty's house later that evening, he heard all kinds of laughter and chatter. From the sounds of everything, everyone had to be in Morty's garden in the middle of the house. The house's structure was such that the rooms all connected along with both indoor and outdoor hallways in a kind of square and the garden was in the open air middle of the building. As he struggled to prop all of the books he held in his arms into one so he could open the door, it slid open for him. He blinked a few times and chuckled when a disembodied grin appeared slowly, coupled with two sparkling, mischievous eyes. "Gengar, thank you." He chuckled and slipped inside, kicking his shoes off at the door.

"Seriously! You're taking this so much easier than I did!" Penny was laughing. Steven smiled as he followed the sounds of his friends toward the living room. When he rounded the corner, he found Volkner and Lance having beers at Morty's table while Gale, Morty and Penny were sitting outside on the wrap-around walkway with Sableye, Espeon and Umbreon, all of whom were greatly interested in the new girl; Steven had received a text that Penny had sent to everyone not present earlier that they had successfully found and retrieved another girl, another friend, from her world. Further in the garden next to the pond stood Claire and Falkner with her Munchlax.

"Steven!" Penny smiled as she saw him and waved. "We were just wondering when you were going to get here."

"What's all that? Bookworm bring the library home with him?" Volkner teased.

Steven gave him a mocking face back and headed to the table. "Well I brought _part_ of it, yes. But I think the things I researched today will be of great interest to every single person here." He said and began laying his books out on the table as Lance and Volkner moved their beer mugs out of the way.

"You were researching the girls, weren't you?" Morty called as he rose from his seat next to Gale and wandered inside. His recent _not _blocked visions had told him they would be learning about the girls that had come into their lives some time soon. The girls followed him after Penny called to Falkner and Claire to come inside. One by one, everyone gathered around the table as Steven opened a few books to some of the marked pages he had shoved papers into.

"Us?" Gale glanced around the group; Penny and the others had already introduced her to everyone earlier and she'd been informed of who Steven was before he arrived.

"Yes. And I think what I've found will shock all of you. It certainly threw _me_ for a loop." The silver-haired champion said as he settled in to a floor pillow and pulled a very old looking book toward him.

Morty leaned in, having seated himself beside Steven so he could see everything the steel-user had researched. "Are these the ancient languages? The ones researched by the teams here in Johto?" He tilted his head as Steven nodded.

"Yes. But look, over here are findings from Hoenn, Sinnoh, every region, all depicting similar findings, they were almost like parts to the same story." Steven explained as he lined up a few books.

Lance leaned up on the table, having been seated on the corner closest to Steven's other side. "Well these are the pokemon Unown. That much I'm aware of, but what are _these_?" He pointed to some various symbols that were interspersed with the Unown text in the books.

"They appear to be parts of the ancient language's written script. I can't read them myself, but the translations that scholars came up with are listed here in this book." Steven reached for another book that Gale pushed his way.

Penny leaned over, her shoulder pressing against Lance's as she tried to read the book in front of Steven. Lance did not appear to be bothered by her closeness as he peered at the pages. "Hey wait a minute..." She said and snatched the book. Steven blinked in surprise as he watched Penny stare at the book and she leaned to her other side to show Claire, who was seated next to Falkner. "Look at this." She gawked at the book as Claire leaned in.

"What is it?" Claire tilted her head as she stared at the pages and gasped. "Oh my God!"

"What? What's wrong?" Falkner leaned close to the auburn haired girl and eyed the book, as if all its secrets would be revealed by his glance.

"Japanese!" Claire exclaimed.

"_What?"_ Gale arched a brow from her spot beside Volkner.

"Yes! Look!" Penny shoved the book across the table to her friend. All of the men sat gawking at the girls as they chatted in loud, excited voices and began grabbing at the books, pointing at the strange symbols placed sporadically between the Unown text.

"Alright, calm down for a minute. What are you three talking about?" Volkner asked, taking a sip of his beer and knocking the ashes off his cigarette into the ashtray in front of him.

"Japanese. The symbols with the Unown look really similar to a written text of a culture back from our world." Penny said and leaned back to Lance and Steven. "So the three of us can _read_ this!" The two champions followed her finger as she slid it under some of the text, reading it out loud to them. There was a momentary silence before Steven's soft chuckling broke it. Everyone exchanged glances of confusion and excitement all mingled together.

"So what does this mean?" Falkner asked, looking over at Steven, the only person at the table who seemed _amused_ rather than confused.

"Amazing, simply amazing." Steven said with a grin.

"What's amazing?" Volkner frowned as his warm cheeks started to expose the beers he had already finished.

"Well," Steven began and took the translation book from the girls. "The entire reason I went to the library today was because of something that Penny's attackers had said to her. They'd said something that essentially meant nothing to me at first but the more I stewed over it all night, the more it bothered me. They _called_ her a 'Voice'. They gave her a title, they weren't merely talking about her actual voice. It was just too strange for me not to think about. Then I remembered that, considering we had already pegged the attackers as the same ones who killed the man on the ship, the men were looking for some sort of pokemon flute. My search terms were very vague, 'voice' and some particular pokemon flute. But I decided to try to see if I could turn up anything in the library." He brushed some of his hair from his face as he glanced around at the occupants of the table before he turned to another bookmark in the book. "I spent all day sifting through things since early this morning. Finally I started getting somewhere about lunch time. I started finding allusions to these terms, a 'voice' being a title for a person and a mysterious pokemon flute but all of these references were in ancient historical texts. I started digging deeper and finally found _this."_ He presented the book to the group.

"'The Summoning of Arceus'?" Falkner arched a brow and looked at the photographs of ancient ruins and hieroglyphics on the pages.

Steven nodded and grabbed one of the closed books in front of Volkner as he leaned across the table. "Yes. If you'll notice, there are _three_ beings depicted in front of the hieroglyphic Arceus." The group looked at the book before all eyes fell upon the three girls at the table. Steven continued his explanation. "Well. I changed my search toward this summoning ceremony. For those who aren't aware, Arceus's legend entails that it made the pokemon world, all of it. Arceus is purportedly the origin of all pokemon, the first, and all others came from it. The gist of the summoning story is the same in all ancient texts that appear from any of the regions of the world: when the world is in danger of ending, the summoning of Arceus has the power to save all life on the planet." He grabbed another book and put it on top of the current one. "There are variations of the minor details I've found, but what I could put together in one day's research, the main elements remain the same. There are three beings always described as 'otherworldly' who must perform the ceremony; one is the Composer and the other two are..." He grinned. "Voices."

"So... you think we're the beings to summon Arceus?" Claire looked at all the open books on the table and glanced at her friends.

"Makes sense." Morty nodded. "Couple this information with my hazy visions: beings in front of a door that opens with a bright white light... the beings seemed to be doing _some_ sort of ritual as far as I could tell. And what would be stronger than the original pokemon to block my visions?" Everyone looked between one another as they let this vast amount of information settle.

"So what's the ceremony like? You said something about the world ending and then the ceremony and stuff. How do we know who'd be a Voice and who'd be a Composer?" Penny frowned in thought.

Steven only grinned at her. "Well, Penny. I know those attackers of yours already mentioned that you were a Voice, but think about it. You have the ability to calm a pokemon and befriend them by _singing_ to them." He glanced over at the corner of the room where Espeon, Umbreon and Morty's Sableye were curled up together. Penny followed his gaze and smiled a little at the affectionate pokemon scene.

"Yeah, Penny's a singer." Gale nodded and then she gestured to Claire. "She likes to sing too. I don't know how all of this translates to pokemon and stuff, but what does the Composer even do? Do you guys write music? Because I don't." She asked the other girls. Penny and Claire both shook their heads and all eyes were once again on Steven.

"From what I've read, the Voices sing a pre-written song. There are various excerpts from the lyrics scattered all across the regions and there are a few guesses made by scholars as to the order the verses all go in, but they're in the translation book." He looked between the girls. "By chance, do any of you ladies know how to play a pokemon flute?" Penny's brows furrowed as she shook her head and Claire shrugged a little.

"I've never even _seen_ a pokemon flute before, Steven, I'm sorry." She ran her fingers through the end of her side-braid.

"I... used to play the _regular_ flute years ago." Gale said, glancing around the group.

Steven snapped his fingers and shook his head. "Amazing, simply, completely amazing. The Composer is in charge of playing the melody on the, get this, _Azure Flute_. That's it. The Voices sing the summoning song, the Composer plays it. I also read that the three beings, genders were never specified but, are amazing with their relations with pokemon both wild and tamed. This has been evident in our first two ladies and Gale, I'm sure this will prove to be true for you as well." He looked around at the occupants of the table with a big heavy sigh. "That's the fruits of my labors of the day. If we want more information, I'll have to go back and continue my research, maybe even go to the larger cities of the regions and do research there."

"I think this is an amazing start, Steven. Your initiative always delivers results." Lance praised and took a sip of his beer. Steven smiled warmly at his friend and nodded his thanks.

"Well I think with this in mind, we might have an idea as to why the Shadow Triad attacked Penny and why they were looking for the flute on the ship." Falkner said.

"Shadow Triad?" Penny looked at him questioningly.

"The truth is, Penny, we know what organization those men belong to." Lance admitted beside her.

She looked up at him with wide eyes and shook her head. "Why did you not tell me?"

Lance took another drink of his beer before answering her. "We didn't want to concern you about it. You were traumatized enough by there only being three of them. I saw no prior need to tell you that there was an entire organization behind their actions against you and the man on the ship." He sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. "That's where I went today. I had a meeting with some other members of the G-Men and it's been confirmed: Team Plasma _is_ still in operation."

〜〜〜

The group at the table discussed the Unova-based crime organization Team Plasma for awhile before a desire to escape such dark topics met with a need for dinner and everyone took part in preparing dinner and drinks. Volkner and Lance went to the store to get any additional ingredients along with more tea and beer. Falkner, Claire and Steven began dinner for the group while Penny and Morty introduced Gale to the large pokemon force as they all fed the group's pokemon their own dinner.

Once dinner was served, everyone gathered around the table and began talking and telling stories, mostly to Gale and Claire who were new to these tales, about various G-Men expeditions and some of their crazy adventures the men had all experienced together.

Volkner sat at his spot beside Gale, drinking and smoking as he watched the blonde girl across the table pour another beer for his boss, his friend. Despite his warnings, he watched her giggle at something Lance said to her, too quietly for him to hear. He, Lance, Morty and Gale were the only ones drinking alcohol; Falkner never drank, Steven rarely partook, Penny had insisted that alcohol had a bad tendency to make her sick, a fact that Claire and Gale concurred upon and Claire also refused alcohol for herself because it made her sleepy. Volkner took a long drag from his cigarette as he watched the pair across the table. The others were all conversing openly as a group but for whatever reason, Lance and Penny had all of their attention on each other. If anyone else spoke to them, they would reply but immediately dive back into their own private conversation. Volkner downed the last of his beer as he watched Lance lean down and speak directly into Penny's ear, making her face light up with laughter. Volkner had never seen Lance with a woman before, except the few encounters they'd had on various missions, but the dragon tamer was always very professional and business-like with them. As of late, there'd been a change with his treatment of Penny. Lance had always been Volkner's good friend above all else, even above his position in the G-Men, so Volkner knew the man well. It was because of this that Volkner felt irritation rumbling in his gut; Lance was _flirting_. Ashes from his cigarette fell into the ashtray as Volkner watched the two. They were so engrossed in conversation, they didn't even notice him staring them down. This was ridiculous.

Suddenly, a thought came to Volkner that made him smirk, though even he inwardly knew it was cruel to be amused. Lance had been drinking and his cheeks were flushed from the alcohol in his system. Of _course_ he was flirting with the girl next to him. Penny was the first woman Volkner knew of that Lance was comfortable enough to befriend in a long time. Even female elite four members or gym leaders were always kept at a business arm's length from the Johto champion. But Penny was neither of those. She had started out as a project for Lance, a pupil, a trainable human almost like a pokemon. At least that's how the relationship appeared to Volkner from the outside. Somewhere along the way, Lance had actually begun to consider Penny as a friend; that was evident enough the other night when he'd brought the girl home injured and mentally beat himself up about it after she'd gone to bed. Alcohol was now driving the relationship-ignorant man to flirt with this newfound female friend of his. In the morning, however, it would all go back to normal. Penny, being stone cold sober, would remember it all and see Volkner's truth unravel as the newly sober Lance would no longer whisper in her ear or speak softly to her, inches from her face: Lance wasn't interested in pursuing anyone. Tonight would end her fantasies about the handsome, capable dragon master. Then Volkner could sweep her off her feet. He inhaled the rest of his cigarette and put the butt out in the ashtray. A little heartache wouldn't kill the girl.


	9. Chapter 9

_Chapter Nine_

Six months. Six grueling months of separation. After spending a little more time at Morty's in Ecruteak City, it was decided that Penny, Claire and Gale were to be split up in order to protect them from whatever plans Team Plasma had in store. The attack on Penny had been all the warning the G-Men needed to enact a protection order from their agency. Gale opted to stay with Morty who had introduced her to some more of the Johto gym leaders and even some of his friends from Kanto, namely Pewter City's Brock who often visited the pair in Ecruteak during his time off from the gym. Claire and Falkner traveled a lot and when she learned of the Unova region's PokeStar studios, the duo traveled south to the region and in a few short months, her exotic foreignness had attracted an agent and Claire had quickly become a new face in pokemon cinema. Since PokeStar studios was stationed in Nimbasa City, Unova, quite far from Falkner's home in Violet City, Johto, the bird master used his Xatu to teleport between the girl and his gym whenever he was needed. It worked out perfectly and meant that the pair could spend lots of time together while Falkner still held his position as a responsible gym leader. Penny had requested more of Lance's time so he might help her train, to which he wholeheartedly agreed. Lance traveled a lot more than the others but he agreed to take Penny with him wherever he went. This, of course, meant that it would be difficult for Steven or Volkner to accompany them so instead, Steven opted to travel to the various large cities of the regions and, with the extensive network of the G-Men, continue to research about Arceus and the myth since the records were so old and the group needed more information. Volkner, at first, had requested that Penny accompany him back to Sinnoh but when she refused, the pair fell into a heated argument that they had ultimately parted on. The last time she saw or spoke to him, they were screaming at one another. Now, here she was, riding Dragonite in with Lance to the Nimbasa City Pokemon League Convention.

Every two years, gym leaders, elite four members and champions from each region collected in one city for three days to showcase their pokemon in exhibition matches and do photo ops to promote the League and boost participation. Since the League was already the most popular sport in the pokemon world, the convention itself was highly covered by the media. At each convention a series of exhibition matches were held on the opening night that featured unknown trainers against gym leaders, usually as a show of the prowess of the leaders (champions and elite four members never participated in exhibition matches). Tonight, Penny, Claire and Gale had all been selected to participate in their own exhibition matches.

"How are you feeling about tonight?" Lance asked, leaning up so he could mutter to Penny as they circled the red carpet on Dragonite. The convention and its reputation begged its invitees to wear their best and Lance was donning his black cape for flair over a solid black suit. His hair was constantly windswept thanks to riding on Dragonite, but it suited him and added to his edgy, adventurous reputation. Penny had wanted to wear a dress but found it impossible since she would be arriving with Lance. Instead, she opted for some glittery golden shorts, black tights and a flowing black blouse. Her hair had been loosely curled and she was glad it somehow managed to hold out during their flight.

"I don't know. Excited, nervous." She admitted.

Lance chuckled as he patted Dragonite, who was wearing a bow tie for the cameras. "You'll do great." He reassured the girl as Dragonite touched down on the red carpet and the cameras began blinding them worse than a strong Flash move.

"Lance!"

"The Johto Champion has arrived—"

"Dragonite! Here!"

"Mister Lance, over here!"

"He's arrived with his date—"

Reporters and cameramen sprung into action as Lance hopped off Dragonite with an extra flash of his cape. He held his hand out for Penny, who took it and hopped off as gracefully as she could manage in her gold heels. Lance took her arm and glanced at a few cameras as he led her down the carpet with Dragonite right after them. At least _he_ paid some of the cameras a little more attention than his trainer and the bewildered girl on his arm.

Once the pair entered the gala, Penny gasped. It was decorated in whites, crystals and golds and there were so many famous trainers around that she completely forgot she happened to be on the arm of one of the strongest in the entire convention.

"We were assigned to table twenty-three, I believe, right?" He asked, glancing around.

Penny pulled a little invite out of her pocket and unfolded it. "Yep! That one's number eight, so we've got to go further in." She smiled up at him and he grinned at her with a nod. Lance was greeted by many people as the trio—Dragonite still walked closely behind the pair—made their way to their table.

"Penny!" A scream broke through Penny's enchantment and she released Lance's arm immediately as she was grabbed by two arms and squeezed.

The blonde giggled and hugged back. "Claire! How are you?" It was crazy to her that her friend was such a famous actress and still just the same girl she'd always known. The three girls hadn't seen each other in person during their six month separation but they had talked on their video communicators often.

"Oh my God I'm great but come here. You too, Lance." Claire grabbed Penny's wrist, followed by Lance's and grinned up at Dragonite. "Come on, you!" Penny giggled at her friend and Lance chuckled a little at the sheer enthusiasm the girl had as she drug them over to their table, twenty-three.

"Hey! About time!" Gale grinned and winked her mascara laden eye at her friend.

Penny scurried around the table to hug her friend. "I know! We kept getting stopped because Lance is so popular." Penny teased.

Lance laughed a little as he took his seat and a waiter brought champagne over for the two humans. Lance took a third flute for Dragonite, much to the waiter's dismay and the great amusement of his table-mates. "Well. Being a region champion isn't all battles and training, is it, Steven?" He raised his glass in an acknowledgement of the steel master at the table who sat between Falkner and Morty.

"Indeed! Sometimes filming promotional commercials helps fund a caving expedition here and there." He grinned and everyone laughed. "Alright, remind me who everyone is battling against tonight. I've had my head buried in books and caves so long I don't remember." He winked at his friends, all of whom were perpetually entertained by Steven _Stone's_ obsession with rocks and stones. The running joke between everyone was that he'd one day find his true love in the form of an evolutionary stone in some cave somewhere.

"Me and Morty are going first, I think." Gale said, sipping her champagne.

"Well that will be interesting." Lance grinned. "Up to the challenge of someone you trained yourself, Mort?"

Morty chuckled a little and gave Gale a wink. "We'll see how well she does." He snickered at her playful shoulder shove.

"Yep and then _us!"_ Claire squealed.

Penny giggled and shook her head. "What's with you tonight? I thought you didn't _like_ battling." She _was_ happy to see Claire so pleased, however.

Claire looked at Falkner with clouded over eyes and the bird master chuckled at her with an approving nod. The girl jumped up out of her seat and held her left hand out to present to the table. "Look! He asked last night!" She exclaimed. On her ring finger was a sparkling ring. Everyone at the table gasped and then began laughing and spouting off congratulations.

"Falkner! Who knew you had it in you, man." Morty teased his best friend. Falkner blushed a little and smiled with a shrug.

"Congratulations, you two." Lance said, approvingly. Penny jumped up and ran around the table to hug Claire, which amused everyone else.

"Well! This calls for a toast!" Steven exclaimed and held his drink in the air. Everyone joined him and they all smiled, infected by the excitement of the new engagement. "To Falkner and Claire." He beamed at his friends.

"To Falkner and Claire!"

〜〜〜

The group had sat at the table for a few hours, talking and watching random highlights from the various regions that were represented at the event on the large flat screens that were mounted here and there on the walls. They had caught up on all of the events going on in each other's lives and had generally enjoyed the evening until a loud exclamation came from nearby and pulled everyone's attention away from the group conversation.

"Claire!" A black haired girl in the fanciest and _flashiest_ clothes hurried over to the table.

Claire stood up and hugged the energetic young woman. "Elesa! Hello!" The girls chatted in excited, high-pitched voices for a moment as the rest of Claire's friends all exchanged glances. Finally, Claire turned around and linked arms with the girl. "Guys, this is Elesa, the Nimbasa City gym leader!" She smiled. "She's helped me so much since I moved here."

"This girl is crazy! I just love her." Elesa giggled. She looked around the group and widened her eyes a little. "You... really _do_ have some powerful friends." She marveled at the men seated around the table, all very well-known if one were a participant in the Pokemon League.

"They're just a bunch of show-offs." Gale offered and grinned slyly at Morty who shook his head at her.

"Hey, Elesa, who did you end up coming with tonight? You were telling me the other day that a couple guys had asked to be your date." Claire prodded her friend in the ribs and Elesa squirmed away from her with a giggle.

"I came with Volkner, the leader up in Sunyshore City. It's in Sinnoh. You guys ever been there?" The female gym leader looked around at the group and her eyes landed on two very cold ones.

"Yeah. I've been there before." Penny's tone of voice was almost as icy as the gaze that filmed her eyes at the mention of the blond man.

Elesa glanced over at the blonde beside the Johto League's champion and blinked a few times, staring. "Ah! You! You're the girl he's supposed to battle tonight in his exhibition, aren't you?" She beamed, seemingly unfazed by Penny's cold demeanor.

"Yes." Was all Penny offered.

Elesa grinned and patted Claire's shoulder. "Excellent! I'm an electricity specialist, myself. I'll be watching you to see how you combat his team." She winked at Penny, who diverted her eyes to her champagne flute on the table. "Well! It was wonderful seeing all of you, but I need to go find Volkner. He was going out back onto one of the balconies for a smoke break when I said I was coming to find Claire. I'll see all of you fine ladies out on the battlefield tonight! Good luck!" The gym leader hugged Claire one more time before she headed off. An awkwardness fell over the table as Claire sat back down. Everyone looked between one another, each casting fleeting glances at Penny. The atmosphere had changed immediately at the mention of Volkner, their only missing group member. It felt strange that he hadn't been with them all night, and everyone secretly admitted this, even Penny. Whether Elesa had intentionally mentioned that Volkner deliberately avoided their table during her visit was debatable, but the point still remained: Volkner _had_ purposefully avoided seeing any of them so far tonight.

〜〜〜

Awhile later, the group dispersed about the gala, meeting and greeting people and League officials from all over. Penny walked about with the girls, separating from their male counterparts for some much needed "girl time". Claire's fame afforded the girls attention from all kinds of gym leaders from various regions as the girls wandered around admiring the decorations of the event and catching up on things since their last "in-person" meeting. Penny stayed with Gale and Claire for a little while before she decided she'd better go find Lance. He was supposed to give her a few last minute tips on her first _real _gym leader battle. She separated from her friends after wishing them luck on the battlefield just in case she didn't get a chance to later. As she walked and weaved between tables, she spotted Lance quite a distance away, speaking to a woman with fascinatingly light blue hair and who was almost as eccentrically dressed as the champion before her. Penny quickened her pace just in case Lance decided to move from that spot; it was hard to find a person in such a crowded area, no matter how big the gala was. As she rounded a table, she bumped into a person and stumbled a little. "Oh! I'm so sorry!" She spun around and smiled apologetically. Her smile slowly faded from her face as two familiar ice blue eyes met her own. "Volkner..." She swallowed a little as his eyes bored into hers. "Long time... no see. How are you?" She fidgeted a little, feeling _immensely_ awkward. Volkner scowled at her; he was still angry?!

"Volkner~!" A sing-song voice came from a little distance away: Elesa. Volkner stared at Penny again for a minute before he turned, without a word, and headed off for his date. Penny watched his back and swallowed a lump in her throat. Even a Blizzard attack from an Abomasnow could not have been as cold as Volkner had just been. She fidgeted a little again, feeling a pang in her chest. Finally, she turned around, found some of her shattered confidence and continued onward to go talk to Lance.


	10. Chapter 10

_Chapter Ten_

"Ladies and gents, it's the event you've all been waiting for!" The enthusiastic announcer shouted and the crowd cheered. The battle stadium for the convention's exhibition matches was located behind the gala building and was slightly larger than a standard League commissioned gym. The seating was split; on one side sat gym leaders, elite four members, champions and League officials while the other side was occupied by civilians who had managed to grab a limited ticket to the biggest event in the entire Pokemon League. The exhibition matches were all televised, however, so anyone in any region who managed to miss the ticket sales would always be able to see the action live on their televisions from home. Under the stadium seating was the back-stage area where the combatants all stayed until their own matches. The current matches were shown on large televisions in the waiting areas. The most important area was the Pokemon Center that was under the entire side of the civilian seating area and was fully staffed with the Nurse Joy from Goldenrod City, Johto, Nurse Joy from Snowpoint City, Sinnoh and an entire staff of Chansey and Blissey. The announcer pumped up the crowd as he stated the various match ups for the convention's opening night. Each exhibition match had at least one unknown challenger who had the honor of being escorted onto the field by a region champion. The champion was decided by the region the challenger's gym leader opponent hailed from.

In a small group off to the side of the combatant waiting area stood Morty, Gale, Claire, Falkner and Lance. Tonight's Johto matches greatly pleased Lance, who was happy to escort two of his newfound friends onto the field.

"Are you excited?" The champion asked Gale and Claire. The girls looked at each other and then back to the dragon master.

"I'm nervous." Claire wiggled a little as Falkner reached for her hand.

"Don't worry. We're in a double-battle. My team and I will protect you." He was so gentle with her.

"You two, geez. It's so cute." Gale teased and grinned triumphantly when she earned a blush from both of the lovebirds. "_I'm_ ready to get out there." She winked at Morty, who laughed at her.

"Alright, you. Well, any time now. We're going to wet the whistles of these spectators since we're the first match of the evening." The ghost master grinned at her. "I am ready to see how well you've done."

"I'm worried about Penny..." Claire said quietly. The group watched the auburn haired girl and followed her gaze. Over on the couches sat their blonde friend beside the beautiful, _powerful_ Sinnoh champion, Cynthia.

"She'll be okay." Lance reassured. "She's worked hard with her full team."

"Yeah..." Claire bit her lip and looked at Gale. Being okay in the _battle_ was not exactly what Claire was worried about.

〜〜〜

"Do you have a strategy cooked up for Volkner?" Cynthia asked the nervous new trainer beside her. She had only met Penny tonight but was _highly_ interested in the girl after learning that she had been trained how to battle by both Volkner _and_ Lance.

"Well... I've trained really hard with my team. We're just going to go out there and do our best." Penny's heart was racing in her chest. She was the third match of the night's five exhibition battles.

Cynthia watched the girl beside her making fists with her hands. "I have heard good things about you, Penny." She smiled when Penny stared at her. "I think your best will prove to be all you need." She was a few years older than Penny and though Penny had heard the woman was sometimes silly and eccentric, tonight she was calm and exuded reassurance. Penny was happy to have a champion like Cynthia there to watch the matches with her and escort her into battle.

"Thank you, Cynthia."

〜〜〜

"For the first match of the evening we have Ecruteak City gym leader Morty against his opponent Gale, escorted by the Johto League Champion, Lance!" The announcer bellowed among the crowd's hearty cheers. Morty walked onto the field by himself, grinning in excitement. Across the field from him came Lance and Gale. Lance strutted onto the field with a sense of ownership and pride. Gale was shivering with excitement from the crowd and anticipation for the battle.

"Good luck." Lance whispered to her.

Gale looked up at him and held her hand up. "High-five for some luck." She grinned as the dragon master gave her a hearty high-five that the crowd screamed for. She turned toward Morty and turned her headset on. With the size of the arena and the television cameras present, all combatants wore headsets so that the cameras, the crowd and, most importantly, their pokemon could hear all of their commands.

"This match will be a Johto League standard gym battle!" Lance shouted. The champion trainers were the officiators of the matches, coupled with a League appointed referee. "Each trainer will use two pokemon. The gym leader is not allowed to switch pokemon; the challenger may switch at will." He raised his hands as the crowd went wild. "Begin!" As Lance shouted, the crowd returned it and two flashes of light were emitted from either side of the battlefield: Morty's Chandelure and Gale's Ninetails.

Gale grit her teeth; Morty chose a fire-type, too. She had hoped for his Froslass, but of course he couldn't let her off that easily. "Alright, Ninetails, start off with Confuse Ray!"

"Chandelure, dodge it! Minimize!" Morty countered her attack immediately and his Chandelure shrunk in size enough to avoid the fire fox's attack.

Gale smirked and shook her head; this wasn't going to be easy. "Alright, you." She grinned and the crowd cheered. "Flamethrower!" She knew Chandelure's secondary fire typing would split the damage done by her attack, but she had to do something quick to start to get rid of his first pokemon.

"Shadow Ball!" Morty shouted. The attacks met one another and caused a flashy explosion.

Gale frowned; she was getting nowhere. She had to act faster than this. "Quick Attack to get closer!" She shouted. The crowd gasped; normal-type attacks were useless against a ghost-type pokemon. Morty frowned as he watched the flowing tails of the fox pokemon dashing toward his Chandelure. He'd taught her better than this; what was she thinking? "Fire Blast!" When Ninetails was close to Chandelure, she opened her mouth and an all-consuming flame enveloped the ghost chandelier pokemon. Morty gawked in shock. His pupil had executed one seriously impressive plan. All he could do was wait for the smoke and flames to clear to see the damage done to his pokemon and whether or not his Chandelure would be able to continue. All through the battle, the announcer was shouting and calling the shots for the spectators and cameras.

As the smoke cleared, Morty's eyes widened; on the sidelines, the referee threw up a green flag and Lance's hand on Gale's side of the field raised. "Chandelure is unable to battle! Ninetails wins." He shouted and the crowd went wild. Morty recalled his pokemon and handed the pokeball to a Chansey nurse who was standing by to take any injured pokemon immediately to the Center. A Blissey quickly replaced her on the field.

"Impressive, Gale. Truly impressive." He grinned.

"Why thank you... teach." She winked at him as the crowd cheered and laughed at their playful exchanges.

"But the show isn't over yet!" The ghost master tossed another pokeball onto the field and in a flash, his Banette was standing in front of him, grinning sinisterly at the crowd around him.

"Ah, Banette. Alright." Gale grinned and recalled Ninetails. The Blissey who stood on the field hurried over to her and took her pokemon. Each combatant was to be looked at and treated after the battles to ensure perfect pokemon health. Gale tossed her second ball onto the field and out popped a Sableye. "Then we'll go with Sableye." The crowd screamed at her usage of a ghost against the ghost master; this was a show worth seeing, for certain.

Morty smirked and shook his head. "Well, let's go! Banette, Shadow Sneak!" He watched his Banette spring into action.

Gale swallowed; her heart was pounding at all of the action and at all of the eyes on her. This was some serious battling. "Sableye, Feint Attack!" She knew there was no way Morty's Banette could avoid the attack and she watched as both pokemon hit one another with their attacks. Sableye and Banette stumbled backward from each other, each reeling from the other's attack.

"Get back with a Shadow Ball!" Morty shouted. He was _enjoying_ this. This was one of the most fun battles he and his pokemon had participated in for some time.

"You too, Sableye! Show him _your_ Shadow Ball!" Gale grinned across the arena at Morty, who shook his head at her with a little smirk of his own. Both pokemon readied their attacks and fired them off simultaneously. The colliding ghost-moves met with a huge blast of power, sending both pokemon skidding backwards on their rears. "Go for a Shadow Claw, hurry!" Gale shouted and stood up on her toes in excitement. Sableye scrambled to his feet and raced toward Banette.

"Will-O-Wisp!" Morty shouted. Sableye leapt into the air toward Banette as the zipper-mouthed ghost opened its mouth to attack. The scene was engulfed in flames and everyone waited with bated breath for the result. As the flames died down, the crowd burst into cheers once again: Sableye and Banette were both on their knees, panting. "Banette, can you battle anymore?" Morty watched his pokemon as he struggled to stand.

"Sableye!" Gale shouted. Her Sableye shook a little as he, too, tried to regain his footing. All at once, both Sableye and Banette collapsed onto the ground, panting.

The referee raised both of his flags as Lance raised both of his arms. "Sableye and Banette are both unable to battle! With Ninetails as the sole victor, the match goes to Gale!" He announced. The crowd cheered as Gale and Morty recalled their pokemon. Another Chansey scurried to get both Banette and Sableye and then disappeared off the field. Gale and Morty met in the middle of the battlefield with Lance and shook hands with one another.

"I'm so pleased with your training, Gale." Morty said as he shook hands with the girl who had lived with him since her arrival in the pokemon world.

"I'm pleased to have you as my teacher." Gale grinned and gave his hand a playful squeeze. The trio headed off the field as officials hurriedly cleaned and touched up the dirt ground of the field, quickly repainting the battlefield boundaries with chalk lines as they prepared everything for the night's second match: Claire and Falkner.

〜〜〜

"Whoa! Gale! You did it!" Claire giggled as Gale, Morty and Lance returned to the back-stage area.

Gale grinned and gave Claire a thumbs up. "Lance had better watch out if I decide to go for the League." The group laughed as Falkner approached. Behind him stood Alder, the champion of the Unova region, the Castelia City gym leader Burgh and his partner, Anna.

"We're ready for a good show from your region tonight, Lance." Alder said and grinned at the younger champion.

Lance smirked and stepped beside Falkner, patting his friend on the back. "Oh, you'll certainly get one." The competition was fierce but normally a friendly atmosphere pervaded the exhibition matches considering nothing was ever at stake here at the convention. He turned to Claire and nodded. "Anything you need to get done, better do it quickly. It's almost time for your match." He glanced at the television where the announcer was already bellowing the combatants for the second match.

Claire jumped up and down for a minute to prepare herself and took a deep breath, closing her eyes. "I'm ready." She was not a _big_ fan of battling, but she could certainly get by, that was clear. Her eyes flew open as a hand clasped around hers and she met Falkner's reassuring smile.

"You'll be fine." He nodded and gave her a wink. "Now, let's go show your city what you're made of."

"Knock 'em out, Claire." Gale grinned and Claire gave her friend a V-sign with her fingers.

"Penny! Watch me!" Claire called over to her friend who still sat on the couches with Cynthia and had been joined on her other side by Steven. Penny looked over at the group and smiled, waving and giving her friends a double thumbs up. A collective sigh was emitted from the group; Penny seemed to be doing alright.

"Let's go." Lance instructed and motioned for Falkner and Claire to follow him. Alder, Burgh and Anna exited a different way, going down the hallway so they could enter from the opposing side of the field. The trio made their way through the entrance tunnel and stood in the shadows as the "home team" of Unova combatants were announced. "A flying-type master against a bug man." Lance grinned a little at Falkner, who chuckled lightly.

"Burgh is quite the opponent. I'm sure he's covered his bases of weakness just as I have. We'll soon see." Falkner grinned as the announcer began bellowing for the Johto team.

"And on the south side, the opposing team is that of Violet City, Johto gym leader Falkner and his partner, Nimbasa City's shining star, Claire, escorted by Johto champion, Lance!" The crowd went wild as the trio stepped into the floodlights of the stadium. Claire flicked her hands up in excited waves and the fans screamed for her. This trio happened to be famous in their own different ways and not a single face among them was unknown.

"I don't plan on letting you get the upper hand because you're known as 'the bird master'!" Burgh called across the field to Falkner as the crowd cheered.

"I would expect nothing less!" Falkner smiled and glanced at Claire. "You ready to do this?" She smiled at him and nodded as she pulled a pokeball from her belt. Falkner nodded to Lance, who was now standing on the opposite side of the referee as Alder. Lance said a few words to the other two men and the referee raised his flags in the air.

"Begin!" He shouted.

Even in a dress, Claire had snapped her pokeball belt around her waist just for the battle. She tossed her ball in the air and out popped her hilarious Psyduck who wiggled around. The crowd cheered; even though Psyduck was not very strong, he was still very beloved by his and Claire's shared fans. Falkner chuckled at his new fiancee and tossed his own ball in the air. In a flurry of feathers, his menacing Honchkrow appeared and landed near Psyduck with an intimidating presence. Across the field, Burgh released his Vespiquen, a pokemon known for her irritable demeanor and his partner Anna released a Carnivine.

"No luxuries for the movie star!" Burgh began and thrust his arm out at the opposing couple. "We're _starting_ with a Destiny Bond!" His Vespiquen raced with immense speed toward Claire's stumbling Psyduck, who tilted his head at the giant bee queen in confusion.

"Psyduck! Dodge it! Go for Fury Swipes!" She was shaking and Falkner cast a quick glance at her.

"Honchkrow, _now!"_ He bellowed and his immense commanding bird jumped in the way between Psyduck and Vespiquen just as her attack was launched.

"F-Falkner!" Claire yelped as Honchkrow and Vespiquen were locked to one another: if one pokemon fainted, the other would join it and their battle would result in a direct tie. Then it would be all up to the girls if either of them were still standing.

"Nicely done, Falkner." Burgh smirked and shook his head. "I knew you'd do anything to keep from attacking me if I were attached to Claire's pokemon but you were ready for us."

"I'm still here, too! Carnivine, Leaf Tornado!" Anna shouted and her floating Carnivine nodded, racing into the fray and emitting a whirlwind of razor sharp leaves onto both Honchkrow and Psyduck as Vespiquen sped out of the attack range.

"No! Psyduck!" Claire looked between her stumbling pokemon, who whined as he was attacked.

Falkner grit his teeth and frowned. He didn't enjoy it one bit when Claire was upset. "Honchkrow, grab Psyduck!" His pokemon flapped its wings and latched on to Psyduck, hovering in the air. "Now, Dark Pulse!" The bird master shouted. Vespiquen and Carnivine were wrapped in the dark type attack and were whimpering and whining even after it had ended. "That's why Honchkrow are referred to as 'Summoners of the night'!" Falkner smirked.

"No time! Power Gem!" Burgh shouted. Vespiquen chased Honchkrow and Psyduck for a moment before she released her rock type attack which sent Honchkrow to the ground. Falkner swallowed hard for a minute and stared; this wasn't good. Honchkrow had hit hard and so had Psyduck, who was grabbing its head and reeling with a loud whine.

"Honchkrow, can you stand?! Can you get up?" There was no way he wanted to leave Claire on her own. He'd promised to protect her, this wasn't good. Honchkrow struggled, shaking a little before he collapsed. Simultaneously, the buzzing bee queen pokemon fell from the air and hit the ground; Destiny Bond had worked.

"Honchkrow and Vespiquen are unable to battle!" The referee shouted. Falkner and Burgh recalled their pokemon and handed the pokeballs off to Chansey and Blissey nurses.

"Claire, you can do this, it's all up to you now." Falkner tried hard not to _coo_ to his fiancee when the entire stadium could hear every word he said to her.

"B-But... we have a type disadvantage!" Claire stammered.

"That's right, you do! Carnivine, Vine Whip! Show 'em how it's done here in Unova!" Anna shouted. Carnivine trilled excitedly and began whacking Psyduck with its vines.

"Psyduck!" Claire shouted and watched her pokemon grabbing his head. "Oh no..."

"Claire..." Falkner said and took her hand in his, giving it a tight squeeze. "Look at him." He urged. Claire gawked at him and looked out onto the field. Psyduck was running around in a circle trying to evade the relentless Vine Whips of Anna's Carnivine. "You know what to do." Her fiance smiled reassuringly and nodded to her.

Claire's eyes suddenly widened and she gasped. "Psyduck, Confusion!" She shouted, a little louder than she had intended. Psyduck stopped running and his eyes began to glow as he turned toward the Carnivine and it, too began to emit almost an outline of a blue that matched Psyduck's eyes.

"Carnivine! Wring Out! Get out of its grip!" Anna shouted.

"No! Psyduck, Zen Head butt!" Claire gulped as she watched Psyduck shout at the Carnivine and he leapt into action. He hit Carnivine dead on and hobbled back onto the ground, waddling around and grabbing his head. Carnivine hovered in the air as the crowd sat with bated breath to see the effects, if any, that the double psychic attacks had on the grass pokemon. All at once, Carnivine let lose a little wail and slithered to the ground.

"Carnivine!" Anna gasped.

"Carnivine is unable to battle!" The referee announced. "The winners are Falkner and Claire!"

"We did it!" Claire squealed and latched around Falkner's neck in a tight hug.

Falkner laughed as the crowd erupted into loud screeching and screaming. "You did it." What was _one_ statement in an affectionate tone in front of hundreds of people, anyway... right? He seemed to forget, momentarily, about all the fans watching at home, as well. Claire released him with a smile and recalled her Psyduck, passing him off to a pokemon nurse as Lance headed over to meet them, along with Burgh, Anna and Alder.

"Excellent job, guys." Lance beamed. "Protecting the lady just like a gentleman, Falkner." He grinned at his friend, who tinted a little pink in the cheeks.

"Just trying to help, Lance." Falkner stuttered; all their headsets were still on, after all.

"Miss Claire, since you live here in Nimbasa City, should you ever want to participate in the Unova League, I think you might be able to give it a good run." Alder said with a chuckle.

Claire rubbed the back of her head and smiled. "I think my friends and I will stick to the silver screen." She giggled and the crowd cheered for her. The two teams shook hands and parted ways as they headed back to their respective tunnels to exit the stadium. The group turned off their headsets and removed them as they made their way to the backstage waiting areas once again.

"Penny's match is next." Falkner said, glancing at Lance as Claire intwined her fingers with his now that they were not in the viewing eyes of the fans and cameras.

"She's been nervous all night. I think it's because her opponent is someone she knows so well." Lance said. As they entered the back stage area, Volkner had finally appeared before everyone, standing with Elesa who had come to cheer him on from back stage. They were across the room from Penny and Cynthia.

"I wish you could battle _with_ her, Lance." Claire said. She, Falkner and Lance joined up on the couches with Morty, Gale and Steven. He had a Hoenn League match to officiate after Penny and Volkner were finished.

"She'll be okay. She never told me her strategy but... I've watched her grow." The dragon master took a bottle of water extended to him from Steven and thanked the fellow champion with a nod.

〜〜〜

Across the room, Penny stood with Cynthia, watching the television as they waited for the announcer to finish and for the field to be prepared for the next match.

"You ready?" Cynthia asked, tilting her head with a little smile. Standing side by side, from behind, they looked like sisters with their long blonde hair and similar statures.

"I..." Penny paused and cast a glance at Volkner as he flirted _shamelessly_ with Elesa. Cynthia sighed and Penny gasped when she felt the veteran trainer take her hand in a reassuring fashion.

"Volkner has _always_ been like that, Penny. I know you told me what happened, earlier, but listen to me: don't let _him_ affect your ability to battle. Don't let _anyone_. You go out there and you battle to the best of your abilities, you focus on your pokemon and their opponents. You listen to the commands of the other trainer and you react. Anything else that happens is a distraction from your victory at the other side, understand?" Her tone was hard; Penny gulped a little. Cynthia's face softened into a smile from its former seriousness and she gave Penny's hand a squeeze. "And have _fun_. That's what it's about, enjoying time with your pokemon."

"Thank you, Cynthia." Penny said, a tiny smile creeping up on her, despite the anxiety she had felt the entire night.

Cynthia smiled even wider than her new friend and nodded. "Alright. Let's go, it's time." She tugged Penny away from the television. Penny cast a glance back at her friends on the couch. They were all staring at her. When their eyes all met with hers, they waved and gave her thumbs up, cheering her on as she left. She gave them a little wave as she disappeared into the entrance tunnel. As she walked with Cynthia, she listened to their heels clicking on the floor and she felt her heart pounding as she heard the hundreds of fans and trainers outside cheering and shouting.

"All the way from Sinnoh, the most electrifying gym leader of the region, the toughest of the tough in the north, it's the female fan favorite, Volkner of Sunyshore City!" The announcer talked the handsome electric blond up and Penny could tell when he emerged because the screams from his fans were almost deafening as she and Cynthia approached the exit of the tunnel.

Cynthia turned toward her and adjusted the girl's headset. "Don't worry. _Breathe_." She said with a smile and turned the headset on. Penny gulped and nodded, clinging to Cynthia's hand.

"And the challenger, lead out by the ever beautiful, ever powerful Sinnoh champion Cynthia, is Penny, who also hails from the Sinnoh region! Ladies and gentlemen this is a Sinnoh born and bred match tonight!" The announcer urged the fans on and they certainly cheered as the blondes emerged from their entrance. Cynthia walked Penny to her trainer box and gave her hand one last squeeze before she left and went to stand midfield on the right side beside the referee. "Tonight's Sinnoh exhibition match is a League standard and champion Cynthia will explain the rules! Take it away!"

Cynthia held both of her hands up and the fur at the end of her jacket rustled in the movement. The crowd was insane; Cynthia was currently the only female League champion. "The rules are simple: two pokemon each, no switch-outs, no time limit! Got it?" She asked and looked between Volkner and Penny. Neither moved a muscle. Cynthia nodded slowly and dropped her hands by her sides. "Begin!"

"Thought you'd wear a dress since you like to be fancy." Volkner's velvety voice graced the ears of everyone in the stadium but no one was more affected than Penny. It had been half a year since she'd heard that voice and she hadn't expected it to make her heart flutter or her mouth dry up.

"Can't wear a dress on the back of a Dragonite." Penny scoffed and held her pokeball out in front of her. "Let's get this show on the road!" She sounded confident but she was visibly shaking. She was glad he was too far across the field to see her nervousness.

"Eager to lose." He muttered into his headset mic. "Luxray." He was so _calm_. Out came his heavily intimidating Luxray, who sparked and growled.

Penny's heart raced in her chest. It was time. "Leafeon, let's go!" She tossed her ball in the air and the smallest of her Eevees appeared on the field in front of Volkner's _much_ larger Luxray. "Razor Leaf!"

"Crunch." He was _too_ calm. It unnerved her. She watched Luxray charge toward her tiny Leafeon as he let loose a barrage of leaves.

"Be careful, don't let Luxray get close to you!" She shouted and her hands became fists at her sides. Leafeon yipped and skidded underneath Luxray's legs to avoid the powerful jaws of the larger lion-like pokemon.

"You always seem to think being small is your advantage. Take your time, Luxray. Charge." Volkner folded his arms and his posture was impossibly lax. Penny glanced between the battle on the field and her adversary. He was plotting something. Either that or he _really_ felt no need to be intimidated by her. Her body suddenly felt hot. That was _it_. He wasn't afraid of her or her team at all. He _knew_ he would win this.

"Leafeon, if he's going to gear up, then so will we! Swords Dance!" Penny cheered her little grass type on, doing her best to keep her tone chipper. She couldn't let Volkner know she was as nervous as she was.

Volkner smirked and shook his head. He loosed his arms and ran a hand through his hair, tousling it around and some fans of his screeched his name into the night air. "Your team is pretty cute, I'll say that much for you guys. Cute team that matches you. But I doubt your travels with Lance have helped you enough that you can take us out."

Penny looked over at him and swallowed hard. Her jaw teeth grit together and she felt her heart pounding. Quickly, she cast a glance over at Cynthia, who gave her a warning stare before looking back to the pokemon on the field. _"Anything else that happens is a distraction from your victory at the other side."_ Cynthia was right. "I'll take that as a compliment: you think we're all cute. But you know, sometimes it's the cute ones you have to watch out for." She dug her gold heels into the dirt of the trainer box. "Leaf Blade!" She shouted.

"A physical attack. Hn." Volkner shook his head. "Discharge." He instructed his Luxray just as Leafeon approached to execute his own attack. Luxray's powerful punch of wild electricity hit the grass pokemon at point blank range.

"Synthesis!" Penny shouted immediately. On the sidelines, Cynthia's lips quirked into a little grin. "Leafeon's a grass type, he only takes half damage from your attacks no matter how powerful you make them!" Penny shouted. Her little leaf pokemon hopped away from Luxray and back in front of his blonde lady trainer. Luxray growled and mewled around a little; he'd gotten hit with Leafeon's powerful attack and _he_ took standard damage.

"We're not done. Wild Charge." Volkner hissed. He wasn't about to lose.

"Magical Leaf!" Penny shouted. As Luxray hurried toward Leafeon, he wasn't able to get close; Leafeon's attack was long range while Luxray's was short. Their styles had swapped from the previous attacks. Luxray stumbled around in the storm of glowing, razor leaves before he fell to the dirt floor with a thud.

"Luxray is unable to battle!" Cynthia shouted, throwing her arm up on Penny's side of the field as the referee mirrored her with his flags. "Leafeon is the victor."

Volkner frowned as he recalled Luxray and handed his pokeball to the awaiting Blissey. As he pulled another ball from his belt, he watched Leafeon bound toward Penny, who caught the little pokemon in her arms and cooed to him, regardless of her headset microphone. The crowd cheered excitedly for the show. "Hey, Penny." Volkner said and idly tossed his pokeball up and down in his hand.

Penny put Leafeon down on the ground and he skipped back onto the field. "What is it?" She was wary. He was probably going to try to get her to lose her focus so she'd slip up and he could make a comeback.

"Do you remember Ecruteak Forest?" His voice was _dark_. Penny's heart skipped a beat and she gulped hard. She stared at him, unable to respond. She'd done her best to forget anything that had _ever_ happened in that forest. Why would he say something like that to her? "From the look on your face, I'd say you do." He tilted his head to the side. "I'm wondering what parts you're recalling. The Bisharp attack...?" He paused and watched her. Penny felt sick. Her stomach began to churn. "Maybe when Gale was lost in the woods...?" His questions sounded _mocking_. "Or how about our _kiss?_" The entire crowd erupted in a series of gasps and shouts and cheers. Penny's heart fell into her stomach and she was pretty sure it was being devoured there. Since when had Volkner, the man who found her, who'd saved her from day one, become this _cold?_ "I certainly remember that kiss. I even remember how you tasted." He smirked. The crowd was deafeningly excited.

Penny was frozen. Leafeon yipped at her from his spot on the field. "H-How..." She whispered, though the mic still picked it up and echoed her small voice through the stadium speakers. Cynthia's words of warning were suddenly lost to her; the girl couldn't find them any longer. "How could you...?" She couldn't mask the hurt in her voice. "How could you behave so thoughtlessly?" She shook her head.

Volkner tossed the pokeball in his hand out onto the field and his five-foot Electivire appeared in front of Leafeon. "Haven't you ever heard of 'tough love' before? I'm _trying_ to help you." His voice was mockingly kind again. "After all, I can't have someone like you falling for a man who will never notice you, am I right? Lance is watching back stage, isn't he? I'm sure he'd feel strange carting you around like he does if he knew the reason you did it was because you _wanted_ him." Volkner clicked his tongue, chastising her.

Penny's eyes widened and she bit the inside of her lip to fight back tears. This was _not_ happening! Not in front of all these people, in front of these cameras... in front of _Lance_. "Shut up!" She screamed. "Solar Beam!" She pointed her shaking finger at Volkner's Electivire and Leafeon jumped a little at the sudden command, starting to absorb natural energy from the ground, since the sun was not present for him to soak in.

"You silly girl. You must have been too busy making goo-goo eyes these past six months to think up a good strategy." Volkner sighed. "Thunder." His lazy tone was back. Leafeon grit his teeth; Solar Beam took a lot of time to prepare, especially at night, and this was time he didn't have. Electivire began to glow and within seconds, shot one of its most powerful attacks at Leafeon.

Penny took a step toward the edge of her trainer box and felt her already shaking body shiver even harder. "L-Leafeon!" A tear escaped her eye and sparkled in the lights. She immediately recalled her pokemon as he fell helplessly toward the ground and met the Chansey nurse before she could even waddle over to the frantic trainer.

"Leafeon is unable to battle, Electivire is the winner." Cynthia called, her tone entirely professional. Penny stood watching the Chansey hurry off with Leafeon's pokeball for a minute before she carefully wiped her tear away and returned to the trainer box.

"I don't think you're ready for the big leagues yet, Penny. I think you should just come home where you belong." Volkner frowned at her as he watched her pull another pokeball from her belt.

"I'm not going to sit and manage your gym for you while you flaunt around Sunyshore." Penny hissed. "And I won't let you insult me or my team anymore." She threw the pokeball at the ground so hard that it almost cracked. The bright light faded and the ball bounced back into Penny's hand as Espeon mewled and flicked her forked tail in the air, staring with her bright, mysterious eyes at Volkner and Electivire.

"Oh?" Volkner arched a brow and folded his arms again.

Penny nodded. "We won't hold back." Her eyes brimmed with tears but she narrowed them and fought the waterfalls. "Future Sight!" She shouted. Espeon's eyes began to glow as she stared at Electivire, and her tail stopped waving. Momentarily, Espeon looked like a _doll_.

"Don't let her finish that, Thunder Shock." Volkner glared.

"Double time it! Protect!" Penny stared at Volkner as every word left her lips. Espeon yipped and her body was enveloped in a powerful barrier that threw Electivire's Thunder Shock away to the side of the field. Volkner blinked, momentarily shocked at the mental prowess of the little psychic in front of him; prowess she could not have gotten in the wild or on her own... prowess she had to be _taught_. Penny really _had _trained hard. Espeon's eyes stopped glowing and she hissed at Electivire. Penny nodded as she watched her pokemon's tail whipping back and forth aggressively.

"You can't hide behind a barrier forever. Shock Wave." Volkner watched the battle carefully and glanced at Penny. She looked just as aggressive as her lilac pokemon on the field.

"Swift!" Penny shouted. Both Shock Wave and Swift were attacks that never missed. Penny _was_ strategizing and she was doing it on her feet in the middle of battle. Volkner glared as he watched the two attacks meet in explosive contact. As the dust from the attacks settled, the trainers and the crowd waited to see if either pokemon had been damaged. "Psybeam!" Penny was not about to give Volkner time to think once the dust had settled. Espeon yipped and fired off her attack.

"No you don't! Electro Ball!" He was shouting; she'd finally gotten to him. Once again, the attacks met with explosive results and this time the dust and smoke took longer to settle. "We're both on our last pokemon. When this is over, you'll _know_ where your place is." Volkner was _angry_.

Penny's brows knit and she shook her head. "It's not where you think it will be." She gulped; she was still shaking... she hadn't stopped.

Volkner glared as the smoke finally cleared and he raised his hand, pointing to Espeon who stood out in the open, unprotected. "That's enough out of you. Electivire—" His eyes widened as his sentence was cut short as Electivire was hit with Espeon's most powerful attack: Future Sight. Electivire stumbled a little.

"Stop trying to _control_ us." Penny frowned as Electivire fell face down onto the dirt.

"Electivire is unable to battle! The match goes to Penny!" Cynthia exclaimed. The crowd was absolutely maddened with excitement. There was no battle that could follow such white hot emotion. Penny and Volkner recalled their pokemon and handed them off to the nurses. Cynthia made her way to the center of the field and beckoned the combatants as the announcer bellowed his excitement to some of the replays on the screens. Penny and Volkner approached Cynthia, all three turning off their headsets. "What a match." Cynthia smiled at the two, but quickly dropped her smile when she saw the pair staring at each other. "Well... shake hands at least for the crowd and the cameras, then." She sighed. Volkner stared at Penny for a minute before reaching forward and grabbing her hand that hung by her side. Penny looked up at him and let her hand sit limply in his hot one.

"Penny—" He breathed her name and she jerked her hand back from him. She spun around and took a step away, her back to him and Cynthia. The champion sighed again and shook her head at Volkner, stepping over to Penny and linking arms with the girl as she led her back across the field toward their entrance tunnel. Volkner watched them for a moment before he stuffed his hands in his pockets, exiting the stadium to the sounds of hundreds of adoring fans.

〜〜〜

"She went to get her pokemon from the Center." Gale said, sighing a little.

Claire fiddled with Falkner's fingers as they sat together on the couch, watching Steven introduce the rules for the Hoenn match on the television screen. "I think we should go find her."

"She might want to be left alone." Morty glanced around at the group. His eyes lifted past his friends as he spotted Volkner walking by their couch.

"Volkner." Lance rose from his seat and the entire group tensed. Volkner stopped walking, but he didn't turn around. "Come with me. I need to speak with you." Lance never got an official tone with any of his friends, especially Volkner. Volkner was the closest thing Lance had to a "best friend" so no one was sure how this would progress. He walked over to Volkner and continued past him. Volkner followed without a word.

"That'll end well." Gale's sarcasm was not lost on her friends as they all watched the two men disappear from the back stage area.

〜〜〜

Lance and Volkner walked to the backstage hallway that connected the stadium to the gala event ballroom where the tables were set up from earlier. He leaned against the wall and folded his arms at his friend with a heavy sigh. "What the hell was all that, Volkner?" He shook his head. "Was it necessary?"

Volkner scoffed a little and lit a cigarette, taking a deep puff before he decided he was fit to answer. "For my mental well-being, I guess." This response made Lance roll his eyes.

"Seriously?" The dragon trainer sighed again and pinched his nose. "Well I hope you apologized to her. You know she's sensitive to your moods."

"Apologize? For what, Lance? Speaking the truth? I know you've got your mind set on other stuff, but you're not ignorant enough to realize the girl wants you." Volkner resembled a dragon himself as he exhaled smoke. Lance observed him and frowned a little. If Volkner were a dragon, he had to have been the one dragon that Lance could never tame.

"I..." Lance paused and cast his eyes off to the side. "Of course I noticed." This admission caused Volkner to pause before his next inhalation. Lance really _did_ know how the girl felt.

"And?"

"And what?" The taller, more muscular man watched his blond friend.

"_And_ what have you said to her about it all?"

"What? Nothing at all. I just ignored it and figured she'd get bored with me." Lance's answer caused Volkner to laugh, albeit mockingly, as he smoked.

"Lance, I say this as politely as possible, but you're a complete _idiot_ with women." He shook his electricity inspired hair and watched Lance. "That girl is as thick as you are, she's never going to notice something like that. If you don't want her, just _tell_ her. It'll hurt her, but she'll get over it. That's how this shit _works_."

"I never said I didn't want her." Lance frowned.

Volkner cut his eyes from his cigarette to his companion. "You didn't, you're right. So... do you?" He was suddenly feeling very guarded.

"I'm honestly not sure. I live a dangerous life, you know that. I've had to be a lot more careful since I've had her with me. I don't want her to get hurt. If something ever happened to me and I _had_ told her how I feel then that'd just hurt her." The more Lance spoke, the more Volkner's body temperature dropped.

"You _do_ know that real life is nothing like romance in the movies Claire acts in, right? You're not going to have some amazing romantic trip together and then you go off on a G-Man assignment and _die_, leaving her to tend to your pokemon or something." Volkner shook his head and finished his cigarette; tonight would be a chain-smoking night, he could tell.

"I know that, you ass." Lance retorted, momentarily aggressive, but it quickly melted; he wasn't one to get very angry toward his friends and he knew how Volkner was with women and advice concerning the opposite sex. "I don't know. I'll figure something out." He pushed off the wall and glanced at his smoking friend. "I'll catch you later. We're all going to have to get together anyway. We need the physical copies of Steven's research on the Arceus legend at the very least." With this, Lance headed down the hall.

"Where are you going? Everyone's still back stage." Volkner called after the champion.

"Need some air." Lance flicked his hand up in a wave as he headed back to the stairs that led to the gala. Volkner pulled another cigarette from his pack and lit it, letting it dangle between his lips. After a minute, he stuffed his hands in his pockets and returned to watch the matches with everyone else backstage.


	11. Chapter 11

_Chapter Eleven_

Lance walked back into the empty gala, looking around as he walked. His cape fluttered behind him and he glanced up at one of the large screens that depicted the feed from the battles outside. A few shots of Steven calling the first round of the battle were shown and the dragon tamer sat down at a random table. A full flute of champagne sat untouched on the white glittering tablecloth in front of him and he sighed, downing it as though it were a shot. He wasn't sure what his real aim here was; he'd meant what he'd said to Volkner, but if he _had_ developed affections for the girl... what then? He never thought it was acceptable to participate in a protection mission if a person were too emotionally involved with their charge. Penny was interesting, that was certain, and Lance really did think she was pretty. He liked her determination and her love for pokemon. He also seemed to like the way she treated him. She was supportive; not that Lance had never been supported before. He had an entire organization, the entire League, he even had _fans_ to support him, and of course he had his friends. Still, her support felt different, somehow. He couldn't explain it, not even to himself. He certainly couldn't explain his thought process when it came to the girl, either. He felt happy with her around, playful at times even. He liked who he was when she was with him. Lance ran his fingers through his hair and rested his forehead on his palms as he stared at the glittering white tablecloth. If she were planning on staying with him, he couldn't develop affections for her. She had to be his friend, at best. He couldn't afford anything more. If he did, he might not be able to make proper decisions to protect her; he might get selfish with her. His head shot up as he heard someone enter the gala and he turned in his chair to see the very blonde on his mind standing across the room from him. Both of them stuck out like sore thumbs in the white room with their black attire. It didn't take long for her to spot him.

"Lance..." She whispered under her breath; he was too far to hear her, but he rose from his chair.

"What are you doing in here?" He asked, after clearing his throat.

Penny glanced around quickly and felt her face growing warmer at the fact that they were alone in the entire ballroom. "I... I came back from the Pokemon Center and I wasn't ready to go back to the stadium." She fidgeted a little and swallowed.

Lance nodded a little and approached her. "I want to tell you something." He stepped up to her and looked down at the top of her head. She was studiously avoiding looking him in the face, much less in the eye. "Don't pay any attention to what Volkner said out there, alright? You're my friend, I'm not going to think strangely of you or want to be away from you. You're kind of like my partner now." He watched her nod a little as she folded her hands in front of her. "Are you okay?" He lowered his voice a bit.

"I'm alright." She was quiet too. She felt immensely awkward and quite embarrassed. "I'm sorry if he made things weird. He said things he shouldn't have." She grit her teeth.

"Hey." Lance leaned down a little and lifted her chin so she would look at him. Her cheeks were stained bright pink and her eyes were wide. He chuckled a little at her shocked, flustered appearance; it was cute. "I told you not to worry about him. He's hot-headed and still probably jealous that you've gotten to travel so much while he's been stuck in Sunyshore taking gym challengers."

Penny giggled a little at him and nodded. "Yeah, you're right." She smiled thinly and watched him. "Thank you, Lance. You always know what to say." Awkwardly, she rubbed her arm and mentally tried to will her heart to slow its rapid beating.

"Not always." He shook his head at her and sighed. "Anyway, I haven't congratulated you on your win. You really showed your training in your match." He smiled warmly at her and extended his hand. "I'm proud of you."

The girl's already flushed cheeks brightened a little as she lightly clasped his calloused hand with her much smaller, softer one. "Thanks..." She smiled bashfully up at him. "We couldn't afford to let all of our training go to waste."

Lance chuckled at her and gave her hand a squeeze before he released it. "Well you certainly didn't." He turned and took a step back toward the door, glancing back at her. "Come on, let's go watch the last match. I'm sure everyone else is dying to congratulate you on your win, too."

"Lance, wait." Penny's voice was timid and Lance arched a brow, turning toward her again.

He swallowed a bit as he observed her nervous body language and felt his own body fluctuating between hot and cold. "Something wrong?" He didn't want her to broach the subject; he would _have_ to turn her down. There was no other way to keep her safe than to keep her at a distance from his heart.

"Well... I just wanted to say that, um." She bit her lip and stopped looking at him. "The stuff Volkner said? I mean he said it all _wrong_ but I—"

"I know, Penny." Lance's voice was deeper than usual. Penny's green eyes shot up to those familiar chestnut ones. It was there that she saw an emotion she'd never witnessed on the confident man's face: uncertainty. He stepped back over to her and took her hand, a lot more gentle than usual as he swallowed again. Penny watched his Adam's apple bob in his throat and felt her heart beating so hard she was afraid it might find its way right out of her body. He leaned down and softly, almost awkwardly, kissed her cheek. "Let's go." His voice was not as strong as it usually sounded as his fingers tightened around her hand. He leaned back from her and the pair stared at one another, both looking equally shocked: Penny, shocked that Lance had kissed her and Lance shocked that he'd done the exact _opposite_ of what he'd promised himself.

"Well! Looks like this is a private party." The voice behind the pair made them spin around and Lance immediately released her, taking a step to separate their bodies. Volkner stood in the doorway with a cigarette balanced between his fingers. Penny looked up at Lance, who was still recovering from the kiss. For all she knew and with all of his awkward uncertainty, that might have been his _first _in a very long time.

"Volkner." Lance had a warning tone as he came back to himself.

Volkner shrugged and took a long drag from his cigarette. "Hey, don't let me interrupt." His words were in opposition to his feelings, but he hid them a lot better than the two across from him. "I just came up here to see if there was anywhere I could grab another pack of smokes and I find you two up here getting friendly. I'll leave you guys and be on my way, then." He flicked his free hand up in a lazy wave and turned his back on the pair. Penny took a hurried few steps after Volkner but stopped with a heavy sigh.

Lance watched her and was angry at the wrenching in his chest as he watched her worry about Volkner. "Go after him." He instructed.

Penny spun around and stared at Lance with wide eyes. "What?"

"Go after him. We both know the reason he was so cruel to you wasn't actually because he was jealous of your _travels_, Penny. Go." He turned his back to her, his cape fluttering a little at his rapid movement. Penny's brows knit and she shook her head even though he wasn't watching her. Why was he trying to push her toward Volkner after he'd kissed her?! Hadn't that kiss meant that he... hadn't it?

"There she is!" A new, unfamiliar voice broke the quiet of the gala room and it was accompanied with heavy footfall and a myriad other voices. Lance and Penny turned toward the main doors and stared at the room's new occupants. They were clad in strange outfits, all of them matching and every single person was holding a pokeball in his or her hand.

"Who are you?" Penny asked and Lance was instantly in front of her with his arm out. He pulled one of his pokeballs from his belt as huge explosions were heard from behind them and their attention was pulled to the television screen that showed the exhibition battles. The announcer was frantic and the crowd was fleeing from the stands as even _more_ people in matching outfits flooded in and released pokemon on the screen. "What's going on here?!" The Eevee trainer demanded.

"Penny, run." Lance's voice was _dark_.

"What?! No way!" She grabbed a pokeball from her belt and glared.

"I said _run_. This is Team Plasma." His voice was almost a growl. Penny gasped as the people now known as Team Plasma began to release their pokemon; these people were not joking around. There were screams coming from outside and on the television screen.

"Lance I can't! I won't leave you here to fight by yourself." Penny raised her hand to throw her pokeball but he spun around and grabbed her wrist in an almost painfully tight grip.

"Listen to me. If I tell you to run, I want you to run, do you understand me? I'm a _professional_, I'm not just a part-time trainer. I've promised to protect you, and I'm going to do that. I won't let you get hurt. What matters is that you're safe. Now _go!"_ He yelled at her and Penny flinched as he released his Hydreigon who bellowed with its three heads and hovered in front of its trainer.

"But Lance—"

"Hey!" Volkner's voice caught Penny's attention and she glanced over at him before returning her gaze to Lance.

Lance's face morphed to one of determined anger and he released Penny's wrist, planting a strong hand on her back. He shoved her hard in Volkner's direction and turned back around. "Take her and get out of here. Protect her." He shouted as more Team Plasma members released pokemon. The gala room was filling up with opponents for Lance as Volkner grabbed Penny's wrist.

"Lance!" Penny shouted. "Volkner, stop it, we can't leave him to fight by himself!"

Volkner jerked her arm and she stumbled. "Come on, you idiot! It's _you_ three that they're after." He yelled at her as he pulled her to the other side of the gala room where a few Team Plasma members ran to meet them. "Jolteon! Thunder Wave!" He released his electric Eevee evolution and Jolteon growled, releasing the attack to distract the people as Volkner and Penny fled through a side door. As they ran outside, Penny glanced back to see Lance's Hydreigon releasing a powerful Dragon Pulse.

〜〜〜

The Plasma attack on the convention was a surprise that resulted in the injuries of many people and pokemon. Thankfully, no one lost their lives in the chaos and destruction. Volkner had rendezvoused with Claire and Gale and managed to lead them to a hotel on the other side of Nimbasa City without any of the Plasma members noticing their flight from the area. All the others had stayed behind to mount the counter-attack led by Lance in the gala and the other champions in the stadium.

"They were looking for us." Claire said, seated on one of the double beds in the room.

Gale shook her head with a heavy sigh and fell backward on the bed behind Claire. "The 'Ceremonial Trio' they said. Volkner, they _know_. What are we supposed to do now that they know we're all here?" She looked over at the electric gym leader. Volkner was seated in a chair in front of the hotel room's desk and he ran his fingers through his hair staring at Penny's back. She stood in front of the window watching in the direction of the convention with her Xtransceiver in her hand.

"I'm not sure. If they had the guts to attack a convention with every strong trainer from all of the regions in one location, I don't see any reason why they wouldn't send people after you even if we split you up like before." He shook his head and looked over at the girls on the bed. "Granted, I think if you go back to being separated and you _travel_ it will be harder for them to find you. Harder for them to mobilize a large-scale attack to capture any of you, either. They can't maintain a large force, one enough to take out gym leaders or a champion, if they're on the move chasing or looking for you."

"We all have to get stronger." Penny turned around and looked at the trio in the room.

"I know you like to battle and stuff, Penny, but it makes me uncomfortable. I can't just stop my job to train all the time." Claire said.

"We can't expect them to protect us all the time while we just run away and hide!" The blonde frowned at her friend.

"Penny, we agree that we need to be able to take care of ourselves, but we don't need to argue about it. Not now." Gale shook her head as she watched her emotional friend from the bed. "We're all irritated and upset."

"I know." Penny sighed a little and turned back toward the window. "Even if just _one_ of us were strong enough, that would help out." She leaned her forehead against the cool pane of glass. "You guys don't have to worry, I'll get strong enough and the G-Men can focus on keeping you two safe." Gale and Claire exchanged glances; there was no talking Penny down since she was so emotionally determined right now so they stayed quiet.

"I hope Falkner is okay." Claire fidgeted with her ring on her finger and Gale tossed a pillow at the girl.

"He's fine. He's a flying-type _master_." She grinned as Claire looked back at her with a little smile.

"Yeah, you're right."

〜〜〜

The quartet in the hotel room had eventually settled down and fallen into light naps here and there over the course of the next few hours. Though they finally stopped talking about it, everyone was worried and curious as to the happenings at the convention center.

**_Ring-ring!_** The group jolted awake at the sound of Claire's Xtransceiver. She shakily sat up from sleeping beside Gale and grabbed her device from the bed-side table. As she answered it, the other three sat up from their spots, Gale behind her and Penny and Volkner having fallen asleep on top of the blankets on the other bed. Penny crawled off the bed and walked to the window. It was approaching dawn.

"Falkner!" Claire exclaimed and exhaled a sigh of relief. "God, are you all alright? Where are you?" As she talked, Penny's hands smacked against the window and she pushed off, running to the door and out of the hotel room. Volkner jumped up and looked out the window on his way to follow her when he saw them: the group was coming to the hotel—everyone was safe. He let loose a heavy sigh and sunk into the chair at the desk.

Gale rubbed her eyes and ran her hands through her hair as she listened to Claire talking to Falkner. "How'd they know where we were?" She glanced over at Volkner who picked up Penny's Xtransceiver from the desk. On the side, a flashing green light alerted the user that a message had been received. Volkner tossed the device over to Gale who arched a questioning brow. She opened it and blinked a few times: a conversation between Penny and Lance was left open on the screen. There were old messages displayed but the two most recent read Penny's relay to the other man of her current location in the hotel and the last displayed message was his reply to "come straight to her". She stood up and put the Xtransceiver back on the desk beside Volkner, who was still watching out the window. In front of the hotel stood Morty, Steven, Falkner and Lance who was holding Penny in his arms. Gale glanced between the scene and Volkner. She didn't say anything to him but she saw the hardened look on his face.

〜〜〜

"I still can't believe they had the guts to attack the convention." Falkner shook his head as he sat against the headboard of one of the beds with Claire tucked under his arm.

"They had quantity over quality, that was certain." Steven shook his head and tilted his head from side to side, stretching his neck.

"Did anyone come to help you?" Penny asked, sitting close to Lance on the other bed.

He nodded a little and smiled thinly. "You'd be amazed what six dragons can accomplish, Penny, but yes. My cousin, who's also named, Claire, the leader of Blackthorn City's gym came to assist me when she figured out they were attacking the gala."

"Good. I'm glad you weren't alone." Her voice was soft but Lance gave her knee a light pat in acknowledgement.

"Well what's the plan? Just because we defeated them all tonight doesn't mean they're just going to give up." Morty sighed and pulled his headband off, scratching his head a little.

"That's what we were discussing earlier." Volkner had begun smoking again.

"Well I've turned up some more information from my research and the team I put together within the G-Men also gathered things for me in regards to the girls and the Arceus ceremony." Steven yawned a little as he untied his shoes and kicked them off into the floor. He flopped down on the bed next to Penny and Lance. "I have a location, the name of the flute and the order of the verses to the song now." The group gasped and began to praise the hard efforts of Hoenn's lead trainer over the past six months.

"I knew I could count on you." Lance gave Steven's shoulder a hard pat, purposefully making the silver-haired man flinch a little.

"Well these girls are friends of mine, too. Of course I am going to help out. That being said, I will get everyone copies of the information. Before I joined in the fray back at the convention, I made _certain_ to incinerate the hardcopies that I had brought with me. I was standing with Flint, Volkner's friend from Sinnoh, and he handled it for me with one of his fire pokemon. I have it all electronically stored on my databases at my home in Mossdeep, though. So I'll have it transferred to all of your portable devices as soon as possible." Steven grabbed a pillow and stacked it behind his back as he watched everyone else.

"I can't believe you've found so much stuff." Claire shook her head.

"Steven's the guy to hunt for things if you want to find something buried." Morty grinned.

"Ha-ha. Very funny. I'm quite good at _mining_, is what Morty is trying to insinuate." Steven playfully defended himself and the group all laughed. It had been a long, very _trying_ day.

〜〜〜

Eventually, everyone had found a place to sleep and even though the sun was now up, the group had decided on well-deserved rest. Penny lay on the edge of one of the beds, watching Claire curled up between Gale and Falkner. Lance took up the middle of her bed and Steven was sprawled out on the other side, halfway tangled up with the dragon master. Morty and Volkner had taken all of the pillows and blankets from both beds and formed a pallet in the floor. The blonde girl rolled over, careful not to wake Lance or to hit Steven's leg that was thrown across the middle man. She stared at Lance's sleeping face and sighed a little. She'd do anything to get stronger. She couldn't give up. If she could get strong enough to defend herself, she'd be protecting not only the other girls, but the guys as well. No one would have to fight alone. She wouldn't make him defend her anymore. She wanted to fight for him because, "I love you." She breathed the three taboo words and closed her eyes. Simultaneously, Lance's eyes eased open and he stared at the ceiling. He hadn't completely been asleep and Penny's movement had woken him. He heard her quiet confession and he glanced at her for a minute before closing his eyes again. Why was she so hard to say "no" to?


	12. Chapter 12

_Chapter Twelve_

Three months after the Pokemon League Convention Gale, Claire, and Penny found themselves spread across various regions in the pokemon world. Gale had returned to Johto but with the concern for the girls' safety, none of them were permitted to stay in one place at all times. In order to move around quickly and still be able to take on gym challengers, Morty enlisted the assistance of Steven's Claydol to use Teleport. This way, the pair could journey across the Johto region on foot and still be able to take care of business at the same time.

Claire was on a break from the movie industry in light of the "attempt on her life," as she phrased it to her manager and publicist and so she and Falkner decided to vacation in Kanto. The Kanto region was east of Johto and his Xatu would allow him to, like Morty, take care of gym challengers at a moment's notice. Their Kanto vacation also prevented two girls from being within the same region, making it even harder for Team Plasma. In addition, Kanto was a decent way away from Unova, Team Plasma's home region.

Penny had journeyed "home" to Sinnoh. Instead of traveling to various regions with Lance, she informed him of her desire to participate in the Sinnoh League, which he was greatly impressed about. He left her in the care of Volkner and Flint, one of Sinnoh's elite four and Volkner's childhood friend. At first, Lance thought it was the perfect opportunity: Penny would be stationed in various cities doing gym challenges in the Sinnoh region and at all times would have a top G-Man, and an elite four member with her, not to mention any given Sinnoh League gym leader they happened to be visiting. Meanwhile, _he_ would be anywhere in the world his work required of him, and that usually meant far away from Penny. He thought the set-up couldn't be better to quell what he realized were affections for the girl he was supposed to protect. Instead, however, the distance between the two made Lance's heart ache. He had never felt such longing like he did for Penny; he'd had girlfriends when he was a teenager and one or two before he joined the G-Men. Truthfully most of his life had been devoted to pokemon and the pursuit of personal strength and security for those he cared about. With Penny in his life, all of his ideologies of putting duty before emotions flew out the window. Now that he was separated from her, Lance found himself unable to get her off his mind. Of course he kept in touch with her constantly through messages to her Xtransceiver. He had even called her a few times. But his body burned to be next to her again, he wanted to see her in person. He had never felt this strongly before. His plan backfired; absence _definitely_ made his heart grow fonder.

〜〜〜

"Volkner!" Penny cheered as she rushed in to the living room. Volkner, Penny and Flint had stopped for a few days to stay in Sunyshore City so he could handle a few gym challengers before the trio planned for Penny's Pastoria City gym challenge to give Crasher Wake a visit from her Eevees. She already had two badges, one from Veilstone City's Maylene and one from Hearthome City's Fantina.

"What?" Volkner arched a brow as Penny skipped into the room looking as bright as if she'd used Flash.

"Lance is coming to Sunyshore tonight!" She was smiling more than she had in _days_, and she had not exactly been depressed. On the couch, Flint glanced at his friend; he'd known Volkner since they were kids, he knew Volkner had feelings for the girl and even though Volkner would never said anything about it, Flint also knew that his friend was jealous of the Johto region's champion.

"Is he? When?" Volkner certainly did a good job of hiding his emotions if Lance's visit were actually affecting him.

"He said he'll be here this evening around dinner time. We should all have dinner together downtown!" Penny scurried out of the room and went to her own to pick out something to wear for her first _physical_ meeting with Lance in over a month.

Flint watched the girl leave and turned his gaze back to the television that Volkner was flipping channels on faster than he could have possibly registered what was on them. "Volkner, just _tell_ her, man." He shook his head.

"Tell her _what?_ What's there to tell her?" Volkner took a sip of water from the glass on the little table at the end of the couch.

"You're impossible. Tell her how you _feel_. At least get it off your chest and stop being so damn broody all the time." The fiery red afro that made up Flint's hairdo wiggled a little as the man shook his head again.

Volkner stood up and tossed the television remote to Flint as he made his way out of the room, heading for the kitchen. "Wouldn't matter anyway. He's the only thing she sees."

〜〜〜

A few hours later, Penny was making her way to downtown Sunyshore where all the best shops, restaurants, cafes and hangouts were located. Lance had called her and he was close enough to see the city lights from the sky on Dragonite's back. She had been ready for hours and had even curled her hair, although she was a little embarrassed to be so dressed up just in case he were to ask her _why_. Volkner and Flint had a few things to finish up at the gym and promised to be right behind her. No one had heard a peep from Team Plasma in the time since the convention and considering they had planned on joining her within fifteen minutes or so, no one saw a problem. Penny was stronger now than she had been two months ago and her badges were proof of that. She was growing with her pokemon and learning more every day about how to survive in her new world. Finally, she arrived downtown and looked around. She was supposed to meet Lance near the Pokemon Center since it would be an easy find. She pulled out her Xtransceiver and gasped at what she saw: Lance had sent a photograph of _her_ from the air a mere few seconds before she opened her device. Her eyes shot up to the sky and in the bright lights of the city, half of the sky was illuminated. There he was, soaring above her on Dragonite. Her cheeks flushed and her heart fluttered in anticipation. She raised her hand up in a wave when something wrapped around her waist and jerked her into an alley. Squirming and wiggling around, she tried to scream but her mouth was quickly covered. As her eyes adjusted to the darkness of the alley, she realized two things: one, that she was being carried, and two, that she was being _kidnapped._ She squirmed harder and tried to move her arms and legs, but found that they, too, were bound. It dawned on her that she was being held by a Tangrowth who had wrapped her arms and legs securely with its vines and was running down the alley behind a few people. Lance had to have seen them take her, right? He had to! He was right there! As the group approached the end of the alley a harsh blast of air stopped them. Penny looked up and tears filled her eyes: her hero had arrived.

"Let the girl _GO!"_ Lance bellowed and Dragonite roared angrily.

"Tangrowth, get her out of here!" A woman shouted.

"Not going to happen!" Lance leapt off of Dragonite and landed in front of the people while Dragonite zoomed over their heads and landed behind the Tangrowth. Penny squirmed and her tears streaked down her cheeks as she watched him. She knew she was safe now that he was here.

"Do you _really_ think we'd come all the way to Sinnoh to fail?" The woman smirked and seemingly from the shadows emerged the subjects of all Penny's nightmares with their long, silvery white hair.

"Little Rattata belongs to Team Plasma." The Shadow Triad. A second man emerged from the darkness near Dragonite and another pulled off a disguise right in front of Lance. All three were present. In a flash of light, the woman and the other Team Plasma operative released a Seviper and a Swoobat.

"She's _mine_." Lance hissed and his hand shot to his pokeball belt.

"I wouldn't." In another flash of light three Bisharp appeared, one near Dragonite, another in front of Lance and the third right in front of Penny. Her eyes widened and she squirmed, making horrified squeaks. The Bisharp in front of her walked close and held the bladed portion of its arm right against her stomach; she froze.

"I'm warning you for the last time. Back away from her." Lance had begun to sweat.

"You can't do a _thing_ to us and you know it... _Lance_ the dragon master." The woman laughed and snapped her fingers. As a response, Penny began to wriggle in pain as Tangrowth tightened its vines around her body. It released her mouth and she yelped.

"L-Lance!"

"Penny, it's okay. I'll get you out of this." He did his best to sound reassuring as he looked around, assessing the situation. Penny was absolutely frantic with the presence of the Shadow Triad and the Bisharp. He needed to do this quickly.

"Dragonite—"

"Scratch."

Suddenly, Penny gasped and whimpered after Bisharp scratched her stomach, ripping her shirt and exposing a thin, shallow cut in her skin. "The next will be stronger." The ninja nearest Penny smirked behind his mask.

"You command your Dragonite to do _anything _and we'll crush all four of her limbs." The woman sneered. "After all, a Voice _only_ has to sing." Lance's eyes widened for a second; they were _serious_. They would do anything short of killing her as long as it meant she could still sing. His heart pounded in his chest and his entire body burned as beads of sweat appeared on his forehead.

"Lance, Gale and Claire..." Penny whimpered. His heart ached as he looked at her; she was concerned about her friends when _she_ was the one in the literal clutches of Team Plasma. "They can't do the ceremony without—"

"Metal Claw." The dark voice of the ninja interrupted her and Penny screamed in pain as the steel blade of Bisharp's arm raked deeply down her side.

"Penny!" Lance glowered angrily, his face dark. "If you're going to attack somebody, then attack _me_ you cowards! You're too afraid to attack me because I'm not bound up."

"Penny!" The Plasma members all looked around for the new voice, but Lance smirked. Maybe this diversion could help.

"V-Volkner!" Penny yelped and gasped at the pain her side was in; she was bleeding heavily. Volkner and Flint had used the sharp eyes of Luxray to locate Penny and Lance when they were nowhere to be found and when their Xtransceivers rang too many times unanswered.

"Reinforcements! We have to take care of this fast!" The Plasma woman shouted.

"Guillotine!" The other two ninjas commanded. To Penny, it happened in slow motion. Behind her, she heard Dragonite wail in agony and in front of her, she watched as the Bisharp nearest Lance rushed him. It brought its powerful arms up as Lance jumped back and threw a kick at the pokemon's armored head. Bisharp slammed its arms shut around Lance's extended leg and as Penny screamed in a voice even she didn't recognize, she watched the Johto champion crumble to the ground in a spray of blood. The next thing she knew, she was also hurled to the ground by a tremendous force and saw light and flames all around her. Had her brain been functioning correctly, she would have realized that Volkner and Flint had taken a chance and attacked Tangrowth's back with a Flare Blitz from Flint's Infernape. When she hit the ground she skidded and rolled for a few feet and lay there, bleeding and in pain. Her eyes felt heavy but she rolled her head to the side and stared at Lance's motionless form. A tear leaked from her eye as she heard the muffled voices of the battle shouting around her. Then, it was all black.

〜〜〜

Penny heard the repetitive beeping noise before she opened her eyes. Slowly, she eased them open and the bright whiteness of the room filled her vision. She was laying in a bed and when she looked down at her arm, she saw a needle leading to an IV dropper and another one with dark crimson liquid flowing into it. She was in a hospital gown and she felt a pain in her side, though it was dulled somewhat. Her arms had a few scrapes and bandaids on them. She turned her head to the side and saw Volkner seated in a chair next to her bed, staring intently at her. They watched each other for a minute before he rose and took a seat on her bedside.

"Hey..." Gently, he brushed her hair behind her ear. "You scared me tonight." She'd never heard him speak this way to her before. Not even when he barely knew her did he speak so softly.

"I'm in the hospital...?" She mustered her voice from somewhere within and was almost shocked she could talk.

Volkner sighed heavily and nodded, reaching his hand down to take hers. "Yeah. They got you good, the bastards. You shouldn't have had to go out alone. I should have come with you. I'm so sorry." He closed his eyes for a minute and shook his head. His brows knit together and Penny lay in the bed, watching him and knowing fully well that he was cursing himself in his mind.

"Volkner?" She watched his eyes open. The familiar ice in them seemed to be melted. "Where are Lance and Dragonite?" Volkner's eyes evaded hers and he looked down. Penny's heart began to race and her monitor began beeping faster. Volkner looked back at her, gravely concerned and her eyes immediately filled with tears. "N-No, God, no—"

He quickly cupped her cheek in his hand and shook his head. "Hey, hey, calm down, they're both alive. They're alive, okay? Take it easy."

Penny reached up and clasped her hand tightly around the one he held her cheek with and clenched her eyes shut as a few tears sought freedom down her cheeks. "I saw h-him... they used a Guillotine a-and he was..." She whimpered and flinched with each heavy breath from the wound in her side.

Volkner leaned down and pressed his forehead against hers. "Sh, listen. He lost a lot of blood. They both did. But they're alive and they're out of the red zone. Dragonite has a broken wing, Nurse Joy called me. He's toughing it out over there at the Center. Lance was moved from ICU fifteen minutes or so ago. Flint is with him right now. You were in and out of consciousness for about two hours." He lingered close to her face for a minute before finally leaning back. "I thought I was going to lose you, you know."

"I'm sorry." She whispered.

He shook his head. "No, _I'm_ sorry. I never should have let you out of my sight. I should be here instead of you."

Penny frowned and squeezed his hand as she pulled it away from her cheek. "Stop it, I don't want to hear that kind of talk." She turned her head from him on the pillow, but Volkner freed his hand from hers and turned her to look at him again. He and Lance seemed to like doing that to her.

"I want to be with you." He whispered and leaned down to kiss her forehead. Penny felt her eyes heat up with tears again and her lip quivered. Leave it to Volkner to put her in such a weepy state. He was mean, he womanized, provoked her, made fun of her and was pretty childish sometimes too. But somehow, among all of his faults, Penny had unintentionally given him part of her heart. The trouble was, she'd given the other part to Lance.


	13. Chapter 13

_Chapter Thirteen_

With the threat of Team Plasma on the forefront of everyone's minds, Claire and Falkner had decided to get married on Cinnabar Island in Kanto with only those officiating the wedding present. Falkner knew his new wife had wanted a more elaborate ceremony, but in light of the horrifying events in Sinnoh, he couldn't allow it. Truthfully, Claire had been so upset and worried about Penny that she hadn't minded the tiny ceremony anyway. What mattered to her was that she and Falkner were married and that her injured friends were alive. Despite her pleas, Falkner forbade Claire from visiting Penny and Lance in Sinnoh. The need for constant surveillance of the girls was more necessary now than ever and his communications with the other G-Men solidified his ideas that the girls needed to remain separated. After the wedding, the couple decided to extend their vacation in Kanto in order to keep Claire out of Johto and remotely close to Gale and also to keep her out of Unova where Team Plasma could easily mount an overwhelming attack.

The pair found themselves in Celadon City under the care and supervision of gym leader Erika. Erika was very traditional, much like Falkner, and she had treated the newlyweds to a few Kanto region tea ceremonies and had even introduced Falkner to the members of the Celadon City Fencing Club; Claire hadn't previously known that her husband was an avid fencer but quickly learned that not only was he interested, he was _talented_. Falkner was the premier fencing coach back in Violet City and Claire enjoyed watching him take on the members of Celadon City's club.

One day during their vacation-turned-honeymoon, Falkner had gone in to the fencing club early for some practice with the resident leader of the club and Claire had opted to accompany Erika to her gym. Erika was a grass-type pokemon user and her gym was beautifully decorated to be an indoor garden, complete with a roof made of alternating glass and solar powered tiles that both allowed sunlight into the gym and used the sunlight to power the facility. Erika was also an avid student of flower arrangement and she had inducted Claire into her pastime. The girls sat on the grassy floor near the back of the gym, surrounded by some of Erika's grass pokemon as a few of Claire's wandered about. Behind her, like the back of a couch, lay Claire's large Charizard who was careful not to flop his tail around too much and damage the plants around him.

"Are you enjoying your stay in Kanto, Claire?" Erika took very kindly to Claire and was completely unfazed by the stardom the auburn haired girl had throughout the regions. Erika's soft-spoken, gentle demeanor was completely at odds with the world Claire was used to but she couldn't say she disliked the change.

"It's a lot different from Unova, but I like it. I'm really glad Falkner suggested we stay here in Celadon for awhile, too." Claire picked up some blue flowers from the pile the girls were working with and added them to her little arrangement.

"Indeed, Unova seems so fast-paced to me. Celadon's a big city, but nothing compared to your Castelia." Erika worked quietly on her arrangement as a Budew crawled up into her lap and settled down for a nap. The gym leader was unfazed. "I've been meaning to ask you, though..." Erika put some of the little branched flowers she was working with aside and looked at Claire who sat across from her. As a respected gym leader, Erika had been informed by the newlyweds of Claire's plight; she had also been present at the League Conference in Nimbasa and was well acquainted with the damage and devastation wrought by Team Plasma for a "ceremonial trio" she knew nothing about previously. "How are your friends?"

Claire's hand faltered and she dropped one of the blue flowers. An Oddish beside her gently reached over with one of its leaves and carefully picked the small flower up, placing it on Claire's lap. The actress smiled thinly and reached over to stroke Oddish's leaves affectionately. "Gale's good. We all have this group chat that we message each other on all the time. She's traveling around like I am so she's safe." Claire's eyes fell downcast and her sigh did not escape Erika's attention. The gym leader waited patiently, silently for Claire to continue. "Penny was attacked by Team Plasma a few days before my wedding." She cleared her throat. Budew stirred in Erika's lap. "They used some dirty tricks..." Claire's hands formed fists as she placed them in her lap. "She's still in the hospital." Claire and Falkner's wedding had been almost a week and a half ago.

Erika's eyebrows raised a little. "She's been hospitalized for awhile, then. I'm surprised they attacked her knowing that she is one of their targets for whatever schemes they have cooked up. It's a good thing she was able to actually escape, though." The grass trainer shook her head and sighed. "I'm very sorry to hear about that. She is recovering though, I'm assuming?"

"Yeah, she's got a pretty good support team up there. She's in Sinnoh. You know Lance, right? The Johto champion?" Claire picked up the blue flower from her lap and willed herself to continue arranging her flowers.

Erika nodded and watched Claire; she did not continue her own arrangement. "Oh yes, I know Lance very well. He was an elite four member in our region before he moved on to Johto. Is he stationed in Sinnoh with your friend?"

"No, not exactly, but he's there. Lance was hurt too, worse than Penny." Claire gulped a little. Lance's injuries frightened her beyond compare. If _he_ could be hurt like this, what was stopping Team Plasma from taking the rest of them out? Lance was a region champion, after all.

"He..." Erika paused and was clearly shocked. "I'm surprised that we haven't heard of this." She knew that the Pokemon League Commission would have been all over an event like the hospitalization of a region champion but there had been no news, no notification of an attack in Sinnoh.

"From what I've heard from Penny, the gym leaders and elite four of Sinnoh are making sure this is very localized and that there's no publicity brought to the incident so that they can keep Penny's location a secret. Lance said if they found out she was immobilized by being in the hospital, Team Plasma would probably succeed in kidnapping her." Claire sighed and finally gave up on her arrangement, leaning back on her Charizard's large body.

"I see." Erika nodded a little. "I must say, I agree with his assessment." She sighed, too, and gently rested a hand on the small bud pokemon in her lap. "Well I want you to know that I and the people of Celadon will do what we can to protect you should the need arise. I know you are worried about your friend, but you should not have such a worried expression in regards to yourself and your own safety." Erika smiled reassuringly but Claire shook her head.

"I just keep thinking of something Penny said to me the night Team Plasma attacked the League Convention. She said we all needed to get stronger so we could protect ourselves." She bit her lip and was quiet for a moment. "Penny's gotten stronger but they still got to her. And Lance... I just feel like traveling around and hiding isn't helping anybody. I need to do _something._" The actress closed her eyes for a moment.

"Claire." Erika carefully set Budew aside and stood up. Claire opened her eyes and saw Erika holding her delicate hand out. Claire carefully took Erika's hand and stood up. Erika was a tiny young woman and she had to look up to Claire to make eye contact with her. Nevertheless, her stature did not at all diminish the presence she had. "Come with me for a moment." She led Claire to a different part of the gym where a small indoor pond had been created. There were grass pokemon playing in and around the water and some were lounging around, enjoying the day. "Do you see all of these pokemon here?"

Claire blinked a few times and looked between Erika and the pokemon. "Well... yes." She was unsure where the gym leader was going with this, but she clearly had a point.

"Each pokemon here has its own role to fill in the community of this gym. This is not the wild, no, but it is a representative microcosm of how the bonds between pokemon are throughout the world. This is not far removed from how the bonds between humans are enacted, either." Erika paused to point to a Gloom who was chasing around a mischievously playful Oddish all under the watchful eye of a Vileploom who sat nearby. "Look at that little group over there. Gloom is doing its best to watch out for Oddish's well-being. If Gloom wanted to, it could let Oddish run about and do whatever it pleased, but what if it got hurt and Gloom wasn't there to protect it? And what about Vileploom? It's watching over Gloom and Oddish like a parent. It obviously cares for both of those pokemon." She paused to glance at Claire who was watching the little group. Gloom appeared to be scolding Oddish for almost falling into the pond. "No one told these pokemon to look after one another. They met and formed these bonds all on their own. None of the pokemon in this gym are related, either. I take in strays or unwanted grass pokemon and allow them to live here. That means that these pokemon, every one of them, were strangers before they met in this very gym. I have seen these pokemon protect one another against unknowing gym trainers who attempt to battle them, I've watched them play and grow together, sometimes they even drive one another to evolution. What I am trying to tell you is that _all_ of these pokemon are important whether they are strong or weak. That Oddish is important to Gloom and Vileploom. They have decided to protect it and care for it all on their own. It is not their job to take care of Oddish, it is their wish, their own desire to do so that drives them." Erika turned toward Claire and smiled warmly up at the taller girl. "You do not have to be strong if strength is not what you seek. You fill a different role in the lives of those who care about you. Everyone does not have to be the protector. If we all tried to be protectors, what would our beloved friends who _truly_ fit that role have left? The strong protect those who are not strong, but that does not mean that they are weak. They are strong in other ways. It is important for us to be true to ourselves. I agree that your friend had a point: being able to protect yourself is more than valuable in the circumstances you and your friends find yourselves. But you do not have to find that strength on your own. Strength in your loved ones is also important. Even those who always go to the front lines need someone to come back to." Erika gently reached out and patted Claire's arm before she turned and left the actress to her thoughts.

Claire stood watching the pokemon for awhile. Erika had shown her something important: she wasn't suited for the battle. She knew that, but all this time she had felt guilty about it. She didn't want to fight but she felt like she was holding those she cared about behind if she were not at their level. Maybe Erika was right. Maybe Claire really was supposed to be the smiling face there to welcome her friends home to her warm, waiting arms.


	14. Chapter 14

_Chapter Fourteen_

"Look over here, Gale. It's a whole horde of Geodude and Graveler." Brock, the gym leader and rock-type specialist from Kanto's Pewter City, had been traveling around Johto with Gale and Morty for awhile. In light of the Plasma attack in Sinnoh, he had filed for an extended leave of absence from his gym that the Kanto Pokemon League Commission had approved. Gale always had the two men around her and while she'd grown closer to Morty, she'd noticed Brock getting close to her as well. She'd been out to dinner with Morty alone quite a few times and each time was more "date-like" than the last. Morty was very protective of her, which she liked, but he was also very relaxed. His easy-going personality made her feel more a lot more calm than she would have been able to be on her own, especially with the events in Sinnoh still on a low simmer from their boiling point.

"That's so cool. I didn't know they moved in groups like this." Gale was studying to be a pokemon breeder and Brock was one of the cream of the crop when it came to the profession.

"There's a lot you can learn about pokemon and their habits by observing them in the wild and then putting some of these aspects into your own practices when you're working on breeding." Brock smiled at her. The two were out on pokemon observations at the foot of Mount Silver while Morty was in Blackthorn City going over some things about Team Plasma with Claire, Lance's cousin.

"Man, I can't thank you enough for coming out here and traveling with us to help me. Having a professional breeder to help me every step of the way is seriously putting me ahead of the game." Gale grinned and began to pack up her belongings from where she'd recorded data both with a video recorder and on paper as well.

"Not a problem!" Brock grabbed his own things and swung his backpack over his shoulder. He held out his hand as he stood up to help Gale and grinned. "You and Morty are my good friends now, not to mention I love cooking dinner with you every night." Brock was quite the established chef; he even made his own gourmet-grade pokemon food. Gale grabbed his hand and Brock hoisted her up. She was small, a lot smaller than Brock and she stumbled against his chest with the force of his pull. "Oh! Sorry." Brock chuckled awkwardly and slowly released her.

Gale smiled good-naturedly and shook her head. "No biggie, come on, let's head back to Blackthorn before it gets too late. God knows if Morty decides he wants to prepare dinner for us, Claire will throw us all in Dragon's Den defenseless for burning down the whole town. She's a lot more hot-tempered than our other Claire." She loved teasing Morty about his lack of culinary skills.

"You have a point!" Brock laughed and nodded. "Come on, I'll lead the way. Just follow me and be careful. These paths are rocky, remember?"

"Yeah, I got it. I'm better at this than I look, Brock." Gale playfully retorted and Brock laughed at her again.

"We'll see about that when I decide to actually take you _climbing_ some time." He turned back and gave her a grin before starting off again. "Oh, hey, remind me that I have something to talk to you about whenever we get back. It can wait until after dinner, just don't let me forget I have to talk to you, okay?" He picked footpaths that would be the easiest, even though he knew Gale could probably handle the ones with slightly rougher terrain. Unlike most of the females he hung around, Gale actually held her own in the outdoors.

"Sounds fishy, but I'll bite." She snickered as they trudged onward, headed back toward Blackthorn and the inevitable task of cooking dinner.

〜〜〜

Upon arriving to their temporary home Claire had secured for the traveling trio, Gale and Brock immediately set to work on dinner. Claire and Morty had gone shopping for ingredients since she was joining them for their meal this evening. Gale was washing her vegetables off in the sink, contemplating her life and her journey thus far in this magical land of pokemon. One of her best friends had been attacked, almost _killed, _a month ago and she hadn't been allowed to visit her. Penny was out of the hospital, as were Lance and Dragonite, who were both going through intense physical therapy and training. In another month, she'd get to see her friends, _all_ of them; everyone was taking a chance and spending Christmas together in Violet City. The males of the close-knit group were not excited about the prospect of gathering the ceremonial trio together for a potential attack, but the girls would have it no other way. Their last in-person contact had been at the convention in Nimbasa and Christmas would make it five full months without the girls seeing each other. In light of Penny's injuries and Claire's new marriage, the girls were restless for one another's company.

"Hey, need any help?" Morty's soothing voice interrupted Gale's thoughts and she turned around to see him leaning in the doorway with those feathery blond locks obscuring his eyes like they always did.

"Oh! Um, well... if you're _careful."_ She grinned and Morty chuckled; he always took her teasing in stride and if he were feeling cheeky, he'd send some teasing right back at her.

"Well I was just coming to see how dinner preparations were going and I found you staring out the window with that carrot under the water like you were trying to drown it." He wandered over and gently pushed her aside, pushing his sleeves up. He grabbed some soap and lathered up his pale, slender fingers as he washed his hands to help her with the vegetables.

Gale smiled a little and shook her head a bit. "Got a lot on my mind, I guess. Sorry, carrot." She headed to the cutting board on the opposite counter and gestured behind her for Morty. "Those vegetables in that little basket there are the ones I'm using. Make sure you wash all of those for me. That'll help me out." She liked that he always wanted to be helpful.

"So... drown them?" He grinned and she made a face at him, but couldn't hold back a laugh.

"Yes. Drown them."

Gale chopped vegetables as Morty washed them, the pair working in an assembly-line sort of fashion for a few minutes in total silence. Morty finished his basketful of vegetables and brought the last few over to her. He stood next to her and watched her expertly chop the vegetables.

"What's on your mind, Mortimer?" She was quiet since he appeared to be contemplative.

"Hm... how should I broach this subject...?" He glanced between the ceiling in mock-contemplation and then his eyes rested on her face.

"Well I don't know, you tell me." She grinned at him and resumed her work, dicing a bell pepper.

"I suppose there's no harm in jumping right in, is there? Alright, then. I think you're beautiful, inside and out." He paused and watched her hand falter against the pepper.

Gale put the knife down and turned toward him, crossing her arms. "That was not what I expected to come out of your mouth."

Morty chuckled at her and shrugged. "Well it did. And I mean it." He studied her for a moment before he decided to continue. "I want to protect you."

Gale made a little face. "Isn't that what you're already doing? I'm not... sure I am following you." Truthfully, she was following him perfectly, but she didn't want to say anything and be completely wrong if, somehow, she had misinterpreted this conversation.

"I want to protect you from _everything_, not just Team Plasma. I don't want you to leave my side." He ran his fingers through the hair on the top of his head. "I'm not very... ah, eloquent with these sorts of things, but I want you to be mine."

Gale's eyebrows raised and she couldn't help a light dusting of pink that fluttered across her cheeks at his wording. "Well, Morty, I can't say that's a bad idea." Her face morphed into a little grin.

"Excellent." Morty smiled a dazzling grin of triumph and leaned down closer to her height. "Then that means I can do what I've wanted to for some time now." He whispered to her and leaned in for a soft, gentle kiss. Gale cupped his face in her hands and felt the beginnings of his blond stubble beginning to grow on his jawline. He released her and watched her with slightly glazed eyes. "Lovely."

"Oh, stop it. You're delaying my cooking, you handsome thing." She rubbed his cheeks with her thumbs for a minute before she turned back to her work.

Morty sighed happily and rose again to his full height. "I'm going to see what Claire and Brock are up to."

"Okay. When you do, will you tell Brock that I'm ready for him to start with the meat?" She called as Morty made his way toward the hall.

"You got it." As Morty left the kitchen, he heard footsteps at the opposite end of the hallway and he caught a glimpse of Brock disappearing around the corner. His mouth set into a straight, pursed line and he headed after him toward the living room. He knew quite well that Brock was interested in Gale, but now she was no longer up for grabs. Now she belonged to Morty.

〜〜〜

After dinner, Claire had stayed for a few drinks before she had gone home to rest. She had an early morning gym challenger to meet so she needed her rest. Morty, too, had retired to bed after a couple drinks, feeling especially exhausted mentally; this was a common occurrence that he'd learned to heed to every single time he felt it no matter where he was. This sort of mental exhaustion always preceded one thing: his visions. This left Gale and Brock up in the living room to talk.

"Hey, Brock." Gale sipped her drink and looked over at the tanned man on the opposite end of the couch.

"Mm?" Brock was flipping channels on the television.

"You had something to tell me earlier, remember? You said it could wait until after dinner." Gale put her drink on the coffee table beside the couch and pulled her legs beneath her on the squishy cushion.

Brock swallowed and shook his head. "Aw, I already forgot what it was!" He laughed a little and Gale eyed him. His laughter was a little too loud to be real.

"Yeah? Well! I was looking forward to whatever it was." She smiled thinly. Whatever he had planned to discuss with her, he'd clearly changed his mind about it.

"Sorry about that. I'll rack my brain and try to remember. I think it had to do with breeding stuff. I'm sure it was. That's why I thought of it on our way home." He nodded reassuringly. "Anyway, it's getting late. We should head to bed, too." He stood up and grabbed his glass off the other coffee table. "I'll wash yours for you, if you want." He held out his hand and Gale nodded, downing the last bit of her drink and handed her cup to him.

"Thanks, Brock. I think I'll check on Morty before I go to bed. He seemed to think he was going to have a vision tonight." She headed out of the living room and Brock watched her leave. He heaved a heavy sigh before heading to the kitchen. He hadn't forgotten what he wanted to talk about at all. He'd wanted to tell her his feelings.

〜〜〜

In the darkness of Morty's room, the vision seer abruptly sat up, panting and sweating. He swallowed hard, gasping for air and staring straight ahead. His body was shaking and he felt a tear trickle down his face. The breath he heard himself taking in sounded raspy. Slowly he pushed himself to the edge of the bed and hung his legs over the side, his feet hitting the floor. He gulped again and his eyes finally adjusted to the dark. This was the worst vision he'd seen so far. He couldn't stop himself from shaking. He headed out of his room in a trembling hurry and locked himself in the bathroom, leaning against the door. He flipped on the light and temporarily blinded himself. There was no way he had seen what he thought he'd seen. He stared at the ceiling for a minute before he wandered to the sink to wash his face and try to calm himself to think about the vision and analyze it properly. He looked at himself in the mirror and gasped audibly at what he saw. With shaking fingers, he reached up to touch his cheek: his tear was made of _blood_. He raked his fingers across his skin, smearing the red and mixing it with sweat that trickled down his face from his hair. This vision had wracked his entire body and he felt even more exhausted now than he had before he'd gone to bed. "My God..." He breathed, his voice sounding and feeling like he'd ingested razors for dinner.

"Morty?" Gale's voice came from the other side of the bathroom door and she knocked softly. "You alright in here? Just came to check on you before I went to bed. You're not sick are you? I hope you didn't drink too much."

Morty started violently at her voice and stared at his pale, bewildered face in the mirror. "I'm fine." He willed himself to strengthen his voice in hopes that she wouldn't notice anything. "Just had to go to the bathroom. No visions yet." He was lying to her but he couldn't talk about this vision yet. He was _afraid_.

"Oh..." She was silent for a beat. "Well okay. If you need me, come get me, alright? Want me to sleep in your room tonight?" Instead of sounding remotely suggestive, she sounded almost maternal.

"No, no, I'm alright. I might not have a vision if you stayed with me." He did his best to joke with her and he heard her chuckle on the other side of the door.

"I see. I'm off to bed then. Goodnight, Morty." She called.

"Goodnight." He heard her footsteps softly disappearing and he hung his head for a minute, balancing himself up on his arms as he gripped the sides of the sink. He'd _seen_ it. The blood tear confirmed it. Visions of _death_ always took the highest toll on the body of a seer, more than any other vision. He clenched his eyes shut tightly. He could still see them: the three dancing shadows in front of the great door. The door slowly began to open and that blinding light began to emerge. This time, however, Morty was not thrown from the vision. Instead, he stayed as an outside observer and watched as one of the three shadow figures made its way over to the door. It grabbed the doors and flung them open wide, flooding the darkness with light. The other two shadows continued dancing. The shadow figures never lost their shadowy appearance in spite of the light so Morty had no idea which shadow represented which of his female friends. All he was concerned with was the shadow who had opened the door. That shadow stood in front of the doorway and held its arms in the air for a moment. Then it grabbed at its own shadowy form before it collapsed to the ground. The other shadows continued dancing but the fallen shadow was eerily still. The light then blinded Morty in the vision and finally forced him from it. He opened his eyes and looked at his face in the mirror again. Death. He had foreseen _death._ He turned on the faucet and washed his face with some luke warm water. Once he'd removed all of the blood and sweat, he sighed and headed into the hallway.

"Morty?" Brock surprised him as he headed down the hall toward his own room.

"O-Oh, hey." Morty's heart was still racing and his stomach was still reeling.

"Everything okay?" Brock frowned as he looked at Morty's wracked appearance.

"Yeah, just... you know how it is if you drink too much." Morty smiled weakly and Brock shook his head, none the wiser.

"Man, you've got to be careful!" He chuckled a little. "Well if you need anything, get one of us up." He headed past Morty and went into his bedroom. Morty made his way back to his room, closed the door, crossed the room and collapsed on his bed. His face was squished against the messy blankets and he gripped them a little. Death. He couldn't stop thinking about it and each time the word popped into his head, his body began to tremble again. These were not nameless shadow figures he was seeing and he knew that. These shadows were representative of the three young women who had come to the pokemon world to perform this mysterious ceremony. These were his friends, one of these people he had _fallen_ for. He was attached, he was invested. And yet he had just foreseen the death of one of his own. He squished his face into the blankets a little more and swallowed hard. This was something that couldn't happen. He couldn't allow them to die. He wouldn't allow it.


	15. Chapter 15

_Chapter Fifteen_

A month later, Gale found herself in the Pokemon Center of Violet City. She was seated in a booth next to Morty waiting to meet up with the rest of their little friend circle. Morty was playing with Gale's fingers affectionately and she was watching trainers wandering about the center. She was eager to see her friends. It had officially been five months since she'd gotten to be close to any of them and the spirit of the Christmas season had brought out even more of her desire to be with her make-shift family.

"Hey!" A familiar voice caught her attention and Morty waved with his free hand. Steven Stone had arrived.

"Steven, good to see you." Morty smiled as Steven slid in on the bench seat of the round booth. He patted Gale's shoulder, who he'd seated himself next to and nodded to Morty.

"You're the first one here aside from us." Gale said with a little smile.

"Yeah? Well that's no shocker. Volkner's got a habit of being late." The Hoenn champion took his opportunity to tease the ladies man before he would be able to start an assault of his own.

"How's Hoenn?" Morty asked his friend.

Steven glanced between Gale and Morty and his eyes caught sight of their fingers entwined together. "Oh it's... Hoenn." He said nothing about what he'd deduced as their new relationship.

"Find anything new about the ceremony?" Gale tilted her head to the side. Steven suddenly stiffened and a shadow passed across his face for an instant.

"I did, yes. I think we'll probably discuss it over dinner or something like that at Falkner's place though." His voice was sharp and he clearly had no intention of furthering the conversation here.

Gale glanced at Morty who looked oddly pale. "What's up?" She spoke gently and he blinked a few times, shaking his head as if to get himself out of a stupor.

"Nothing, nothing. Just lost in thought." He smiled reassuringly at her and she eyed him for a minute.

She sighed a little and leaned against him, looking around the Pokemon Center. She glanced over to the door and sat up a little straighter, craning her neck before she started shoving Morty a little. "Hey, there they are, I see Volkner." She stuck her hand up in the air to wave as Morty and Steven both slid out of the booth and the trio went toward the door to meet their friends.

"There you guys are." Volkner was dusting his black beanie hat off; it was snowing outside.

"Where are the others?" Steven glanced around when Penny and Lance were nowhere in sight.

"Outside." Volkner gestured to the door. Everyone nodded and they all followed the Sinnoh native outside where, sure enough, Penny and Lance were leaning against the Center under the entrance breezeway.

"There she is." Gale smiled at the sight of her blonde friend and Penny turned around with a bright smile on her face. There was no way to tell the girl had almost died two months ago.

"Gale!" Penny scurried over and hugged her shorter friend. Gale carefully hugged Penny around her neck; she wasn't sure how sensitive the girl's side was from the injury.

"How are you?" Gale couldn't help but feel a need for gentleness toward Penny.

The blonde smiled again and shrugged. "I'm good. My doctor says I've healed really well. I got my stitches out about... Maybe a month ago, but the insides have had to heal a little more. There were stitches there too." She shook her head and made a face. "Nasty stuff."

Gale laughed a little. "Well, you're okay. That's good." She looked at the tall, carmine-haired man who stood behind her chipper friend. Lance was clad in a thick black trench coat and had shining silver crutches under each arm. His right leg was encased in a protective plastic and metal boot from thigh to toe and under it hid his cast.

"Hey, Lance." Morty flicked his hand up in a wave and smiled thinly. This was not the first time he'd seen one of his friends beaten up, but he was still surprised at the extent of Lance's injuries.

"Hi, guys." Lance balanced on one of his crutches and waved with his other hand.

"Come on, let's go! I don't like standing in the snow!" Penny whined and pulled her scarf closer to her neck. Everyone laughed and began their trek up the street to the Violet City gym and Falkner's penthouse apartment above it. Falkner's home consisted of a two-story penthouse that encompassed floors two and three of the gym. The fourth and final floor was the aviary where he kept his team as well as where the trainers who worked in the gym kept their own flying-type pokemon.

The group's pace was slow, considering Lance's crutches made it difficult for him to keep a steady pace. He was strong and able to go faster than an average person would have in his condition, however.

"Need me to carry anything for you?" Penny asked him in a quiet voice. She always stuck by his side, every second that she possibly could. She had taken care of him from the instant she was physically able during her own healing process.

"No, I'm alright. Thank you, Penny." His voice fell a few octaves lower than normal whenever the pair spoke softly to one another. It always made Penny blush.

"If you say so." She smiled. Beside them walked Volkner. As much as Penny had done to take care of Lance, _Volkner_ had done for _her_. He watched their interaction as the group made their way through the gentle Violet City snow. He watched the eyes Lance would cast her way and the soft pink her cheeks would turn when her eyes would meet his. It had driven him crazy for months. He had witnessed enough.

"Lance, I need to talk to you." Volkner said on the opposite side of Penny. Penny glanced between the two taller men on either side of her. She noticed the tension immediately; Volkner's tone had not been a positive one.

"Alright." Lance stopped walking and nodded to Penny. "You go on with everyone else and tell them we'll catch up." He glanced to Steven, Gale and Morty who were all in conversation up ahead.

Penny glanced between the two of them with a frown. "Well... You two make it quick, alright? It's cold." She hesitated for another minute before jogging off to catch up with the others.

Lance turned to Volkner and the men stared at each other for a minute. "Where to?"

"Give them a head start and we'll just talk on the way to the gym." Volkner watched the bouncing blonde curls of his personal sunlight join arms with Gale and Steven as the group walked on.

"Alright."

〜〜〜

Steven, Penny, Gale and Morty all made their way to the Violet City gym and headed in through the automatic glass doors. The first floor of the gym housed the stadium. The wooden bleachers on either side were polished and sparkled in the dimmed florescent lights of the huge room.

"They're probably upstairs." Steven mused.

"Well let's go pay them a visit." Penny smiled. Gale and Morty followed the two as Steven carefully questioned Penny about her injuries and her current health status as well as that of his fellow champion. The quartet made their way to the elevator that stood on the opposite side of the battlefield and Morty pushed the second floor button.

As the elevator doors opened on the second floor, the group smelled what seemed to be like citrus and cinnamon filling the short hallway between the elevator and the door to Falkner's apartment. They filed out and Morty knocked on the door a few times. A minute later, the door opened and in its way stood Claire, wearing an apron that was covered in flour.

"Look at the housewife." Gale teased and Claire squealed.

"Falkner! They're here!" She hugged Gale and ushered the group in the door, squealing again when she saw Penny. She jumped to hug her but stopped short and looked at her friend with a sudden expression of sorrow.

"Hey, hey, now. I'm alright, don't do that." Penny smiled knowingly and hugged Claire.

The actress clung to her friend around her neck and felt her eyes begin to mist. "I'm glad you're here." She whispered into Penny's curls.

"Me too, Claire."

"Hey guys! Who's up for some tea to warm your cold bones?" Falkner appeared with a tray full of empty tea cups and a pot of steaming, freshly made tea.

"Falkner tea? I'm always up for that." Morty grinned and Falkner laughed as he and Claire ushered the group into his living room that had the fireplace lit. Falkner brewed his own teas and even crushed his own blends together with a mortar and pestle. Having his tea any time was quite the treat, indeed.

"Oh, I should take you to Kanto, Gale." Morty said, sipping his second cup of tea. "You would like sightseeing outside of Johto, too."

"Yeah? Well let's go. I'm down." She grinned.

"You should take her to Cinnabar, Morty, it's so nice there." Claire beamed. She had quite the fondness for the island since she'd been married there.

"Not to mention Blaine lives there. He's quite the character." Falkner chuckled and put an arm lazily around Claire's shoulders. The group laughed and continued their catch-up discussions.

"Penny?" Steven scooted closer to the blonde who had held her teacup in her hands the whole time but hadn't taken a single taste. She blinked a few times at him and glanced around. One by one, everyone noticed her lack of participation in the conversation and had turned their attention to her and Steven. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah! Yeah, I'm fine. I'm just wondering about Lance and Volkner. They should have been here by now." She bit her lip and looked down at the light reflecting in her tea.

"Where are they?" Claire tilted her head to the side.

"Volkner had to talk to Lance." Penny frowned and put her teacup on its saucer that rested on the low table in front of the couch. "I'm going to go get them. They've got to be right around the gym somewhere. If not, I'll go back to the Center." She stood up and hurried to the door.

"Wait, I'll come with you." Steven hopped to his feet and everyone else exchanged glances. Penny paused for a moment at the edge of the living room before she finally nodded and disappeared into the entrance hall of the apartment where they had all left their shoes, jackets and other winter apparel. Steven glanced back at the others and frowned. "Not sure what's going on here, but I'll bring her back." The others agreed and watched Steven hurry out after the girl.

"_This_ is going to be interesting." Gale said with a roll of her eyes.

"Volkner wanted to talk to Lance, huh?" Morty glanced at the married couple on the opposite couch.

"Doesn't sound good." Claire frowned.

"We'll see." Falkner mused, rubbing his wife's shoulder.

〜〜〜

Penny and Steven rode the elevator down to the first floor and as the doors opened, she secured her scarf around her neck.

"I hope they're alright." She muttered. Steven looked down at her as they walked across the battlefield toward the gym's main door.

"I'm sure they're fine." Physically, he meant; he couldn't entirely promise her that when it came to the other men's emotional states. As they reached the door, Steven's hand shot out and latched around Penny's wrist, holding her back far enough that the automatic door wouldn't sense her presence and slide open. Penny spun around, her curls bouncing around her shoulders and she looked shocked. "Wait." Steven sounded serious. She swallowed and slowly turned her attention toward the door. She saw a glimpse of Volkner and Lance on the sidewalk near the entrance and she immediately bit her lip; they were _arguing._ There was no mistaking the fact that they were angry with each other by the expressions on their faces.

"Steven..." Penny looked up at the Hoenn champion and he smiled thinly at her.

"Come on, let's have a seat and we'll just wait until they're finished. They'll come inside soon." He tugged her over to the bleachers and Penny's brows knit together as they sat side by side.

"You're not making me go back upstairs to wait?"

"Would you listen to me if I tried?" His smile broadened a little and Penny blushed a bit. He certainly had her pegged.

"Probably not..." She fidgeted a little and he chuckled, patting her shoulder lightly.

"So we'll just wait here."

〜〜〜

A few minutes later, the gym door slid open and Lance made his way in on his icy cold crutches.

"Stop running away, Lance." Volkner hissed as he followed.

"I'm not running away. I'm cold, my leg is killing me and I'm done talking about this with you." Lance sounded irritated and tired.

"You made about as much progress with our conversation as you have with _her_." Volkner's voice sounded even colder than the weather outside. The two on the bleachers went completely unnoticed as they sat and watched silently.

Lance stopped and frowned at Volkner who had come quickly to his side to badger him. "Listen, I said I was finished with this. It makes no difference whether we both have feelings for her or not. That's not our call. It's up to her if she decides she wants one or _neither_ of us. Frankly, I don't blame her for not wanting either one of us. Can you? What good are we to her at this point, really?"

"I _saved_ her." Volkner glared.

"So did I." Lance retorted. Penny gulped and felt her heart ache. They were both right; Volkner found her had taken care of her since she'd arrived and Lance had rescued her in Ecruteak city, they'd both done their parts in Nimbasa to keep her safe, not to mention that they had both fought for her in Sunyshore.

"I _love_ her!" Volkner's voice was loud and full of rage. Penny gasped and her eyes widened as she gawked at him. Steven glanced down at the girl with a deep frown etched across his face. He was regretting his decision to let her see this. He should have taken her back to the others, regardless of how much she would have complained to him.

"You aren't the only one in the world who loves her, Volkner." Lance shook his head.

"The only reason you love her is because she's the first woman you've ever really been around. You don't even have any basis to compare her with." Volkner's stance was aggressive; he didn't actually plan on fighting with Lance. He knew he shouldn't stoop so low, but he couldn't help but feel the immense need to punch _something_ right now.

"That isn't true." Lance's voice filled with poison. "She's the first woman I ever _cared_ enough about _to_ be around. Besides that, how is she supposed to believe you when you tell her you love her? How many women have you said that to before?" The next instant, Lance found himself on the ground and he winced heavily at the pain, hissing through his teeth; Volkner _had_ punched him.

"Volkner!" Penny screeched and leapt to her feet. Volkner's eyes widened as he watched her speed across the battlefield and fall to her knees at Lance's side. She leaned over him to pet on his cheek a little, then looked up at Volkner with tears in her eyes. "What are you two _doing?!"_ She screamed.

"I-I..." Volkner choked on his words as he stared at her with wide, bewildered eyes. She had _seen_ this. What had she _heard?_

"He alright?" Steven's voice came this time as he headed over.

Lance forced himself to sit up and panted a bit. The fall to the ground had jarred his leg a little and sent sharp pains down his leg and up his back. "I'm fine, don't worry about it. It's alright."

"No. It's _not_." Penny growled and stood up as Steven helped Lance. She stepped over to Volkner and slapped him _hard_. Volkner took the hit and his head whipped to the side. His eyes were downcast and his cheek immediately began to grow pink from the force of her hand. "Why would you do that?!" Volkner grit his teeth but he didn't respond to her. "He's _injured!_" She continued.

"Penny, stop, it's okay." Lance said as Steven helped him to his feet.

"It's not okay." She whimpered. "None of this is okay." Volkner slowly returned his gaze to her and watched her through half-lidded eyes. "Why...?" She whispered that part as she stepped up to Volkner, latched on to his jacket and cried onto his chest. Volkner closed his eyes for a minute and Steven gathered up Lance's crutches, handing them off to the dragon tamer. The only sounds in the entire arena were Penny's soft sobs as she pounded her fists against Volkner's chest. She put no strength in them, but Volkner took each hit anyway, silently letting her hate him as he stared at the top of her head. He didn't put his arms around her and he didn't push her away.

"Penny." Lance called. "Calm down, it's alright now. Let's go upstairs. Let's just forget all this." He looked at Volkner. The last sentence had been meant for him.

Volkner looked over at the man he called a best friend, his only best friend aside from Flint. The blond man swallowed and put a hand on Penny's shoulder, gently pushing her away from him. "Go upstairs."

Penny looked up at him and wiped at her wet face. She sniffed and her nose had turned a little red, too. "I don't want to... not yet."

"Me either." He whispered to her. Steven stood back away from them; this argument hadn't concerned him in the least and he didn't want to intrude, but he _was_ there if any of the trio needed him for any reason.

"Penny... do... you want to talk about this?" Lance ventured. Penny blinked a few times and looked over at him. She looked his body over, her eyes tracing his boot-encased leg all the way up to his face and the bruised cheek bone from Volkner's punch. Then she looked up at Volkner with his reddened cheek and ashamed, remorseful eyes. She took a step back from him and his hand fell away from her shoulder. She was suddenly afraid. They'd both admitted, out loud, that they were in love with her. There was no way either man would accept her continuously being indecisive. There was a decision to be reached here... a decision she was not yet ready to make.

"N-No, I can't." She sounded panicked.

"Okay, that's alright. We don't have to deal with this right now if you don't want to." Lance put on a soft voice on for her and turned himself around with the aid of his crutches. "Let's just go upstairs and see everyone."

"No..." She whispered and shook her head.

"Do you want to stay down here for awhile...?" Volkner didn't like the way she was acting; she looked like a cornered pokemon searching for an escape.

"No." She bit her lip and looked between the three men in the room with her. "I-I can't." She shook her head again.

"Let's just go get some more tea. You didn't drink yours, remember? Claire made cookies, too." Steven offered her options in the most gentle voice he could muster. The three of them truly resembled trainers attempting to talk down a frightened pokemon.

"I need air." She said abruptly and dashed out the door.

"Penny!" Volkner hurried after her but similar to Penny earlier, Steven caught the blond by the wrist. "What the hell are you doing?" Volkner hissed.

Steven shook his head and didn't back down. "Leave her alone for a little while. I don't know what she's thinking but she witnessed the entire argument that you had since you two came inside. She heard everything each of you said. I can only assume the argument was the same outside, too." He sighed heavily and finally released Volkner's wrist. "Just let her think by herself for a bit and she'll come back. She's not familiar with Violet City so she won't go far."

"I'm not letting her go alone." Volkner growled. "Never again." He turned around and glanced at Lance's leg. Lance frowned a little but didn't say anything in response.

Steven sighed again and nodded. "Alright, then. We'll be upstairs when you get back." He watched Volkner for a minute as the electric trainer took off out the door and left him standing there in the middle of the gym floor.

"Steven?" Lance glanced behind him as he went and the steel-master made his way over. The two went to the elevator and disappeared from the arena when the doors closed.

〜〜〜

Penny made her way down the street and pulled her jacket tighter around her body. She hated the cold but she hated the situation back at the gym even more. How was she supposed to decide?! Why was it solely up to her, anyway? Then again, she knew she was the one who had to make a decision if one could even be reached. Lance had spelled that out pretty perfectly to Volkner, and unknowingly to her. She had made it halfway down the downward-sloping street before she heard the rapid footfall of someone behind her and suddenly she was grabbed from behind and spun around. She yelped and immediately had flashbacks to Sinnoh when her eyes focused on a black beanie and blond hair peeking out of it at the bottom. "V-Volkner..." She stammered a little and he glared daggers into her eyes.

"Are you stupid?" He frowned and grabbed her wrist, pulling her back up the street the way she had come.

"W-What?!"

"I asked you if you were stupid." He continued tugging her.

"No, I'm not stupid, what are you doing?" She squirmed a little against him.

Volkner turned around and stared at her, leaning inches from her face. "You are _never_ to run off by yourself again. Do you not remember how this happened to you?" He placed a hand against her side that had become tender scar tissue under her jacket. "Did you forget how that happened to Lance? You were _alone_. You cannot be alone."

"But I don't want to go back there." Her voice was weak and her eyes glittered with tears that were ready to fall.

Volkner sighed and leaned back from her. He glanced around in the street for a minute before he looked back to her. "Do you want to go somewhere else...?" His voice was low and full of uncertainty.

Penny watched him and lowered her eyes. She didn't respond instantly, but eventually she found the courage. "... yes." Volkner nodded and his grip slid from her wrist down to her hand, as his larger one clasped hers gently. She curled her fingers around his hand and he pulled her off down the street.


	16. Chapter 16

_Chapter Sixteen_

It was morning. Falkner sat in the floor in front of his fireplace grinding tea leaves and dried fruits. His wife was preparing breakfast in the kitchen. Lance was seated on the couch staring blankly at the crackling morning fire. No one else was awake just yet. Penny and Volkner never came back, but somehow everyone knew that it hadn't been because they were caught by any Team Plasma operatives.

"This is almost ready, Lance. It's a nice winter blend but it's my favorite breakfast tea." Falkner's voice broke the human silence that had held ever since Lance had limped into the room with the aid of only one crutch.

"It's fine." Lance's eyes never left the fire.

Claire entered the room at that moment and put a tray full of biscuits with butter, Combee honey and various berry jams in little jars. "Here you go. These are ready and waiting for you. Are you hungry?" She knew Lance was hiding his hurt to the best of his ability but the fact that Penny stayed out all night with Volkner was obviously upsetting him.

"Thank you." The man said and leaned forward, forcing himself to take a biscuit for the mere fact that she had troubled herself to make them and bring them out to him.

"Morning, team." Gale appeared in the doorway and shuffled her way to the couch. She sat beside Lance and tucked a leg underneath her to get comfortable.

"Hey, Gale. There's biscuits and we have berry juices in the refrigerator. Falkner's almost done with his breakfast tea, too." Claire smiled thinly and cast a glance at Lance from her spot behind the couch. Gale caught it and watched Lance from the corner of her eye. The girls weren't about to blame Penny for Lance's obvious heartbreak; after all, if it had been _him_ she disappeared with, then they'd all be dealing with a heartbroken Volkner. It was a lose-lose situation, it seemed. _Someone _was going to be heartbroken.

"I thought I smelled something good when I woke up. I'm cool to wait for the tea, though." She sunk into the couch and hugged a decorative pillow in her lap.

"She chose, I guess." Lance muttered. Everyone in the room froze and fell silent. The girls looked at each other and Falkner looked over at his friend.

"Maybe. Or maybe she's just trying to figure out how she feels, Lance." He had never known Lance to be one to talk about his feelings, much less in front of this many people so he did his best to tread lightly.

"If Volkner is who she's going to decide on, then as long as he makes her happy it doesn't matter." Lance slathered his biscuit with honey and took a healthy bite.

"I think you still need to talk to her about how _you_ feel." Gale said, frowning a little. "Won't do anybody any good if you just keep it all to yourself. Get it off your chest and if she hasn't made a decision, then maybe that'll help her out. Volkner probably let her know his feelings, too."

"She heard everything last night though." Claire bit her lip and sat down in the armchair next to her husband who had put a kettle of water on the hanger over the fire and begun to distribute his breakfast tea into decanters for the tea cups he had already prepared on a tray. By now, everyone knew the goings on from the gym's arena of the night before. Steven, and even Lance, had informed the group.

"But _Lance_ didn't say it directly to her. He said it to Volkner." Gale said and watched Lance eat his biscuit.

"Do whatever brings you the ultimate form of comfort, regardless of what you think end result of the situation is going to be. That's clearly out of anyone's hands but _hers_." Falkner offered, implying the missing girl and the weight her decision would have on Lance.

"I guess we'll see what happens when they come back." Lance said after he swallowed his food. The group fell into a heavy silence as they watched Falkner prepare the morning tea.

〜〜〜

Penny eased her eyes open and looked around the room. It took her a minute to remember where she was. She was in a hotel in Violet City, Johto. The alarm clock on the bedside table showed that it was still morning. She rolled over and frowned; Volkner wasn't beside her. Slowly, she sat up and the blanket fell away from her body. She sat there in her camisole and tugged it up, staring at the long scar that stained her skin. Lightly, she ran her fingers across the discolored skin that was still tender. Volkner had done the same action with equal gentleness the night before. Where was he? She tugged her shirt back down and pooled the blankets around her lap to cover her legs from the chill in the room. It dawned on her that the bathroom door was shut and she sighed a little; she had been temporarily afraid that he'd gone out. That fear should not have crossed her mind, however, considering his fervency to never leave her alone. She glanced at a chair in the corner of the room where their jackets and the rest of their garments rested in one giant heap.

The bathroom door opened and Volkner appeared in its way, rubbing his head with a towel. He wandered over to her, seeing her awake and sat on the edge of the bed. He smelled like soap and shampoo as he leaned over and kissed her forehead, tossing the towel on the floor. He had yet to put his undershirt and sweater back on but was otherwise dressed. "How did you sleep?" His voice was deep this morning.

"Okay." Penny flushed a little, suddenly embarrassed. Her eyes fell away from him and she picked idly at the blanket.

"I couldn't sleep anymore so I got up to take a shower. Are you cold?" He analyzed her body language and how she'd tucked herself under the thick blankets. Penny shook her head and he cupped her cheek in his hand. "Are you upset?" His heart pounded. If she regretted coming with him, he was sure he'd break. She had no idea the power she held over him at that moment.

"I'm not upset." She nuzzled his hand a little and he stroked her cheek with his thumb.

"But you're not happy." He concluded.

"I'm confused." She admitted. She felt her heart beat painfully a few times after she said it.

"You love him, too." He sighed. "I'm taking liberties with you, I know." He leaned in, nuzzling her neck and kissing her jaw a little. Penny blushed. "But I love you." His voice deepened as he whispered the words in her ear. He pulled back and watched her expressive eyes before he kissed her lips. His kisses the night before had been so gentle, so careful and this one was no different. These were not the kisses he was used to giving out. Those kisses were rough, dominant. Those weren't the kisses he wanted to use to convey his feelings to her. He was unsure if he had ever _truly_ loved anyone before or not, but everything he felt with her was so overpowering. He had an animalistic desire for her, to love her, to protect her, to care for her, a predatory urge to keep her safe and to make her his own.

"You aren't taking any liberties I haven't granted." She slipped her arms around his neck and pulled herself close to him. He was right though; she _did_ have feelings for Lance, she loved him, too. She spent six months training alone with the man and she'd realized her feelings for him a long time ago. Over the two months since their attack and hospitalization, she discovered, however, that as much as she'd come to love Lance, she had other feelings that had existed and likely been buried and pushed aside.

Volkner scooped her up into his lap and held her. "Can I ask you a serious question?" He trailed his finger gently over her side where he knew her scar hid behind her shirt.

"Go ahead." She rested her head against him and he enveloped her in his arms. He tucked her head beneath his chin. "You won't want to answer it when I ask, though."

"If I don't answer immediately, then don't get mad at me. But I'll try to answer you." Her breath ghosted across his bare skin as she spoke.

"Do you love me?" He felt like an idiot asking her such a question he saw as "wimpy" but everything inside of him screamed to know how she felt. She knew _exactly_ how he felt; he had both told her and shown her all of his feelings toward her. The best he could do for a response was to know that she was clearly torn between him and Lance but he had no idea how much of a hold on her he even _had_.

Penny _didn't_ answer immediately. In fact, she and Volkner sat in silence holding each other for a few solid minutes. She listened to him breathing and heard his heart beating against her ear. It was strong, powerful but it was fast and she knew why. She tightened her arms around his neck and pressed herself against him. Her heart hurt. On one hand, Lance had literally risked his life for her and he'd almost _lost_ it. Without the special surgeries performed by Hearthome City's Nurse Joy who had come out to Sunyshore, Dragonite would have never been able to _fly_ again. Yes, Lance loved her and he had held an established place in her heart for awhile. On the other hand, she was in the arms of the man who had prevented her from ending up alone in this world. Without Volkner, she would have either been homeless or maybe even immediately picked up by Team Plasma. She also would have never met Lance if it hadn't been for Volkner. He was nowhere near as gentle with her emotions as Lance was, but within the past 24-hours he had shown her that he _did_ love her, passionately and wholly. That was something that could not be said about Lance. The six months he had alone with her when they were training, the time she spent with him after their attack taking care of him, all of the opportunities he had to show her his feelings, to tell her what he thought of her had always been missed or passed over. Volkner, on the other hand, took the initiative with her every time. All of his bad attitudes and coldness in the past had been because she had rejected him at every turn. Despite all of that outward rejection, she somehow always found solace in his arms, regardless of what was happening around her. Without her having realized, those arms had started to feel like home.

"You don't have to answer." Volkner broke their silence and the painful heave of his heart was almost audible in his voice.

Penny blinked; her eyelashes tickled the skin of his chest. She swallowed hard and coiled up in his lap, clinging to him almost desperately as if he were about to disappear. "I think... I dolove you." She whispered. She felt his body tense. He didn't say anything. "I love you, Volkner." She repeated, forcing herself to say it a little louder and her voice quivered.

He retracted his arms from around her and slowly pushed her off his lap. He watched her with furrowed brows. "Don't say it because of last night." His voice was clouded, as was his expression.

"I'm not." She was trembling. She blinked hot eyes as they formed tears.

His expression softened and he leaned closer to her. "Okay." His lips met hers and he pulled her back into his arms. Her trembling fear to voice those words was enough reassurance for him. It was all he needed.

〜〜〜

Lunchtime came and went at Falkner's gym and afterward, Gale made her way up to the aviary. The group had dodged the subjects of Penny, Volkner and their disappearance for Lance's benefit. Gale had spent a large portion of her morning exchanging messages back and forth with Brock, who had returned from his leave of absence back to Pewter City's gym. Brock had been acting strangely the last month he'd spent with Gale and Morty and she suspected it had something to do with that conversation they never had. She'd attempted to bring it back over the course of the month but Brock always blocked it with some talk of something else. She sat on a bench in the aviary and watched a few Spearow flocking together and hopping around on some of the steel trees that Falkner had created for the habitat of the flying types. All of the drama between Lance, Penny and Volkner had her mind working in areas that, perhaps, she wouldn't have allowed it otherwise but she pulled her PokeGear out of her pocket and re-read some of the conversations she'd had with Brock since he left. She almost felt bad about talking to Brock so much when she was pretty certain that the reason he was strange with her was because he was interested in her and she was now officially dating Morty.

**_BEEP._** Gale blinked and looked down at her Pokegear. She sighed a little and crossed her legs as she read the message from Brock:

_Hey! So it's snowing a lot there? We have a few flurries reported for later in the week, but I guess I guess we haven't seen much hope for a snowy holiday. Usually doesn't stick much in Kanto or Johto anyway, just a few days then it's all slush. _

The message was innocent enough but what made Gale sigh was the intent behind it. She was convinced.

_Can I ask you a question, Brock?_

He might not reply. He might brush it off. If she was wrong, she would just apologize for having been mistaken and move forward. If she was right, she would have to have a not-so-entertaining conversation with him that she was not at all looking forward to.

**_BEEP._** He replied faster than she thought he would:

_Sure, what's on your mind?_

She heaved a sigh. It was now or never; time to resolve whatever had been bothering him and what had been stewing in her mind for awhile now.

_The conversation you and I were supposed to have in Blackthorn, do you remember that? I want to know what you wanted to talk about. I really think if there's something on a person's mind, they should voice it. It's better to get things out there in the open so they can stop festering inside a person. Don't you think so, too?_

If he took her bait or not, she would just have to hope. She stuck to her statement from this morning that she had originally directed toward Lance and had reformulated it for Brock. Just as she'd suggested to the dragon master to tell her blonde friend the make-up of his heart for his own mental and emotional benefit, she thought that Brock would benefit similarly. She glanced at her Pokegear; no new messages had arrived. If Brock chose to ignore the subject, she would just have to bring it up as blatantly as necessary. At this point, it was driving her just as crazy as it seemed to be making Brock.

**_BEEP._** She jumped, not having expected a reply just yet. She was almost hesitant to open the message but with a heavy sigh, she did.

_Yeah, I remember. I just didn't want to bring it up again because I didn't want to bother you with it. You're with Morty and that's good because it looks like you're happy. So why would I want to mess around with something like that?_

Her hunch was confirmed with such a response: Brock _had_ been interested in her.

_Well, I'm glad it's out there now. I'll tell you that I am happy with Morty. But I'm also happy that you finally told me, well you kind of told me. But that's something in itself. Now it's out and it's no secret and we can work with it. I still want to be your friend, if that's something that's doable._

She wasn't sure if her humor and sincerity would be conveyed as words on an emotionless screen but she certainly hoped so.

**_BEEP._** She blinked a few times at the rapid response.

_Like I could leave my best breeding apprentice behind. You know I'm here whenever._

His response was simple but she could hear his voice in her head and see that reassuring smile in her mind's eye. She shook her head and laughed a little out loud, stirring the silence of the aviary and a sleeping Pidgey nearby ruffled its feathers at hearing her and nestled down further against its perch, going back to its nap.

"Well. I guess everything's okay." She smiled.

_Good. Talk to you soon._

She stood up and put her Pokegear in her pocket, turning toward the door. She blinked and started a little; Morty was leaned against the exit to the aviary with his arms crossed lazily. "What are you doing, sneaking around like that?"

"You're lovely to watch when you're perplexed." He grinned.

Gale rolled her eyes as she made her way over to him. "That's almost a backhanded compliment."

Morty chuckled and pushed off the door frame. "Well I actually came up here to get you because Penny and Volkner are back, but you looked so in thought about your Pokegear, I hated to bother you." He watched her, his eyes searching.

Gale smiled thinly and took his hand. "I'm good now, nothing's bothering me so don't you worry your pretty man-face over me." She winked at him and gave his hand a tug toward the hallway. "Let's go see how _that_ drama has played out, shall we?" The pair made their way to the elevator.

"They got back a few minutes ago but Penny and Lance disappeared into his room. They had to talk." Morty informed her as he pushed the button for the second floor. Gale arched a brow as the elevator doors closed; apparently Lance really _was_ going to take her advice, after all. Maybe she was better at giving advice than she had thought.


	17. Chapter 17

_Chapter Seventeen_

"Some more tea, Volkner?" Falkner finished pouring a cup full for Steven and turned the little jade green pot Volkner's way.

"Huh?" Volkner had been staring at the entrance to the living room in a daze as he waited for Penny and Lance to come back from Lance's room. "Oh, uh, yeah. Thanks, Falkner." He cleared his throat and held his teacup and saucer up for Falkner to have easier access pouring the steaming hot liquid. He watched the tea sparkle in the low light of the living room and glanced over at Steven who sat beside him on the couch. The Hoenn champion was quite fidgety ever since the missing duo had returned and Volkner surmised, by the stack of papers that sat in the man's lap, it was _not_ because he was apprehensive about some minor love-triangle.

"So, the gang's all here?" Gale's voice pulled Volkner's attention to the living room doorway where she entered with Morty. They sat across from Volkner and Steven and Falkner promptly poured them some tea.

"Yeah, Penny and Lance are talking in his room, though." Claire said, taking a bite of one of the cookies she had baked earlier.

Gale nodded a little and picked up her teacup. As she took a sip, she watched the electric gym leader across from her over the rim of the cup. Volkner seemed distracted but not apprehensive; something big had obviously happened during his absence if he was not bothered by Penny's alone-time with his rival in love.

"I've just been discussing with the others, Gale, that Steven should distribute his research now that we're all here." Falkner took a seat in one of the lounge chairs next to his wife.

"I wasn't going to let anyone know anything until we were all here together." Steven sounded a lot more ragged than usual and he continued to rifle through the stack of papers on his lap. Beside him, Volkner didn't say anything but he continued to watch Steven with furrowed brows; something didn't quite feel right.

〜〜〜

About half an hour had passed before the inhabitants of Falkner's living room were greeted by the sight of Penny and Lance appearing in the doorway. She helped him over to the couch beside Morty and took her own seat next to Volkner. He glanced at her and wordlessly handed her teacup to her; he chose not to comment on the reddened rims of her eyes that still bore signs of recent tears.

"_Now_ the gang's all here." Gale sunk into the couch under Morty's arm and he patted her shoulder.

"Steven, we're all eager to know what you've uncovered about the ceremony. It's been far too long since we heard any of your detailed research results." Lance's voice sounded full of authority for the first time in, perhaps, a long time.

The silver haired man chewed on his lip for a minute before he gulped the rest of his tea down and rose to his feet. "Here are your copies." His voice had not improved from earlier. He passed stapled packets around the group and waited until everyone received their own copy to proceed. "This is everything I've come to learn about the ceremony." He pointed to the first two pages in the packet and glanced nervously around the group. Steven was a strong man, no one had any idea why he had suddenly adopted the attitude of a frightened Caterpie. "These first couple of pages are the lyrics to the ceremonial song that the Voices sing. I managed to figure out the order to all of the disconnected parts and following that is the most complete arrangement for the actual music of the piece. I believe that this is the piece for the composer, so it is likely an accompaniment. The musical staves beneath that, the smaller ones you see, are what I believe to be the melody for the lyrics. I found bits and pieces of this melody scattered throughout my research and I've visited many musical specialists and the two parts correlate almost perfectly." He sighed a little and watched everyone marvel at this grand achievement.

"You've seriously outdone yourself, Steven." Falkner said, eyeing his packet.

"That network of yours must be some serious research nerds." Gale teased.

Steven cleared his throat and forced a thin smile on his lips. The smile did not reach his eyes. "Yes, well... we do what we can. Finding hidden things is my specialty, after all." He flipped a few pages into the packet, past photographs of hieroglyphics, explanations of and guesstimated translated portions of the ancient carvings. He folded the pages back and creased the top by the staple. "The last page and a half detail what actually happens in the ceremony and lists what else is required for it to work, including the three beings from a world apart from ours." Everyone turned in their packets to match Steven.

"Pokemon of every known type?" Morty mused and placed the packet onto his lap as he read, scratching his cheek. "I think we have that covered among our whole group, right?"

"Yeah, I think so." Falkner agreed.

" 'Arceus is only able to manifest on our plane of existence with the exchange of life from this world'? Steven, what's this?" Volkner's eyes searched his packet and then he rested his icy blue eyes on the lowered head of his friend.

"The... the ceremony can't be completed unless Arceus is given life." Steven's voice was so small he might as well have whispered.

"What... does that mean?" Claire's timid voice shook as she spoke.

"Steven?" Lance frowned; he knew. They all knew.

Steven's head never rose and his face was obstructed by silvery locks of hair. "The ceremony requires a sacrifice. Arceus requires a _human_ sacrifice. One of the ceremonial trio has to die for him to appear." His words scratched through his throat and he gulped after he sealed his lips. Just speaking these words taxed his heart in ways he had never known. He had just told all of the people he held most dear that the fruit of his months of research had only been the realization that one of the girls would die if they completed the ceremony.

"One of us has to _die_?" Gale shook her head as she glanced around the room, her eyes lingering on her two female friends.

"No wonder this information has been scattered apart for so long. Who in their right mind would attempt this?" Morty frowned and flipped his packet closed.

"We're not doing this." Volkner's voice was stern and deeper than usual. Everyone's attention turned to him.

"Well I'm not too thrilled about this, but the packet says right here that the stipulation for the ceremony to even _happen_ is that the world has to be in danger of total destruction, Volkner. I don't think I'm going to be rushing out to perform it first thing in the morning." Penny put her hand on Volkner's arm to try and calm the storm she saw beginning to rage within him.

"I can't say that I'm thrilled with this either..." Lance said. "I can't accept throwing a life away in order to summon Arceus. We don't even know the extent of Arceus's power, nor do we truly know if Arceus would aid us in whatever way we might need at the time. I'd rather risk my own life to fix the problem than put it off on someone else."

"Someone who isn't even from this world to begin with. Our problems are not yours." Falkner said, his face etched with disapproval.

"Your problems aren't ours?" Gale sat up a little straighter. "This is our world now too, whether or not you've noticed. Guys, we're here right now as much as you are. I don't know how to get back to my world and I'm pretty sure none of the rest of you do either so like it or not, this _is_ our world."

"What's one life in comparison to the entire world...?" Penny's eyes were hard and she looked at each individual in the room, meeting the eyes of her friends one at a time. Her determination was almost tangible.

"Out of the question." Volkner growled.

"You two..." Gale warned. An argument was the last thing anyone in this room needed right now.

"I need to smoke." The blond man rose from his seat and put his packet of papers on the couch as he exited the room. Penny sighed heavily and carefully collected the packet with her own. She leaned against Steven, who stiffened momentarily but then quickly welcomed the human comfort.

"I'm sorry..." He muttered.

"You didn't make this ceremony, Steven." Penny cooed.

"Yeah, don't apologize. If anything, we should be glad you discovered this. Maybe we can avoid doing it altogether now that we know it comes at such a high cost." Falkner smiled thinly and reached over to the arm of Claire's chair to take her hand.

"We're an elite team from the most elite group of pokemon trainers in the world. If it looks like everything is coming to an end, or if every life in this world is in danger, we're the ones who are going to stop it." Lance glanced around the room and received a few nods from those who were not already lost in their own thoughts.

After a few minutes of silence, the married couple rose from their seats and began dinner preparations, leaving the rest of the group to their own devices. Steven and Lance began a card game on the middle cushion of the couch so the dragon trainer would not have to lean uncomfortably down to the coffee table in front of the couch while Penny ventured off to find Volkner.

Gale made her way back up to the aviary, this time choosing to have Morty tag along with her. The couple exited the elevator and Gale wandered over to the habitat reserved for Falkner's Xatu. The psychic bird fascinated her and despite his standoffish appearance, he was quite friendly. "Hey, buddy." She smiled and held out her hand. Xatu trilled a little at her and wandered over, ruffling a few of his green feathers as he gently nudged her hand with his beak.

"Your prowess with befriending pokemon is one to be commended." Morty said, smiling as he watched their interaction.

"Well. I don't know. You guys all seem to think it's to do with my being the Composer from the trio." She shrugged as she gently began to pet Xatu's head. "But I am amazed at how easy it is to get them to like me. So I must be doing something right." She chuckled a little.

"You're good at befriending people, too." He stepped over to her and gently scratched under Xatu's beak.

Gale glanced between the pokemon and her boyfriend for a moment. "Yeah, I have some good friends." She had a hunch she knew _exactly_ which friend Morty was referring to.

"You do." He watched the bird as he spoke, but Gale's eyes rested on him.

"Come sit with me." She took his hand and led him to the bench she had perched herself upon earlier. The pair took their seats and Gale turned toward him. "Alright, now out with it. Something's bothering you."

Morty blinked a few times, surprised she would be so forward about his internal musings. He recovered, however, and chuckled at her. "Well, yes, there are a few things on my mind, some more heavily weighted than others."

"Mind sharing?" Her voice softened a little from before.

He smiled thinly. "The truth is... I _knew_ about Steven's research before he presented it to us." He watched her brows knit. "I saw a vision where one of you fell before the great door that's plagued all of my visions pertaining to the ceremony."

"And by 'fell' you mean..." Gale frowned. Morty only nodded as she sighed heavily. "You didn't tell me about this, why, exactly?"

"I was more determined about not letting something like this happen than I was about spreading panic among our beloved little family." He took her hands gently in his and gave them affectionate squeezes. "I will not let you die." Though his expression and voice were soft, Gale could feel the resolution in his words.

"What if we have to? We don't even really know how that part works, it wasn't in Steven's notes and I'd wager to say you don't have any leads from your visions, right?" She watched him nod again and she bit her lip for a minute, losing herself in thought.

"I, myself, would wager to say that none of us are going to let you three be in harm's way. We've given it our all thus far to protect you from Team Plasma and as far as I'm concerned, if they don't get ahold of you guys, I don't see any reason for the ceremony to be carried out." He paused for a moment before he continued. "That being said, I'm not sure they would be able to cause such a catastrophic event that would even warrant the ceremony. They're only humans, even if they're a large collective."

"Stop being so smart." She grinned and leaned up to kiss his jaw.

Morty chuckled and gave her a little shrug. "I'm sorry. Dissecting situations is... kind of what I do. It's how I read my own visions."

"I know, I know." Gale smiled and leaned against him, thinking about Team Plasma and the ceremony.

Morty watched her think and decided that he would remain silent about the other thing that was bouncing around in his mind: Brock. He'd known of their friendship and he also had easily figured out Brock's feelings. If he were to guess, he would have said he'd figured them out before Gale had. Even so, he knew she was loyal to her word and her relationship; she would not betray Morty. Still, he was unsure what Brock's motives entailed and if he were continuing to subtly flirt with Gale, Morty was determined that he may have to set a record or two straight.

〜〜〜

Downstairs, Claire and Falkner were continuing their preparations for dinner. Falkner was somewhat of a self-proclaimed "master of herbs" and he was determined to display his herbal prowess with a hearty winter stew for his comrades.

"Claire, hand me that spice shaker with the blue lid." He held out his hand as he stirred the big cooking pot and his wife giggled behind him.

"It's like we're in surgery when all we're doing is cooking dinner." She handed him the little glass shaker and watched him work his magic over the food.

"It's just as serious." Falkner teased and leaned over to kiss her on the cheek as she watched him. Claire laughed at him and went about preparing bowls and utensils for their guests. "Claire?" Falkner's voice was not as playful as it had been.

"Yeah?" She was in the middle of carrying the stacked bowls filled with silverware to their dining table. Their backs were to each other; neither turned to face the other.

"If I asked you not to do the ceremony, would you agree with me and not do it?" He hadn't sounded so timid with her in a long time.

Claire looked down into the bowls and was silent for a moment. "Could I trust you to save the world without the ceremony?" It was not that Claire wanted to risk her life or those of her friends by completing the summoning of Arceus, but if the world had no other choice, she couldn't think of a reason not to at least try, even if she was afraid.

"I would give you every reason to believe in me. I will protect you if anything happens." His determination was audible, even in his soft tone of voice.

"Alright then. That's good enough for me." She smiled thinly at her darling husband's love for her as she went to set the table for dinner.

Falkner sighed a little as he heard her go. These girls, no matter how much he and his friends adored them, were so troublesome; listening to _them_ was the last thing these girls ever did. He didn't think his wife would jump at the chance to perform the ceremony, but he also didn't think that she would be able to sit by and watch the world suffer when she had a chance of doing something that only _she_ could do. This was a dangerous discovery that had been made. He was worried and he was not alone in that.

〜〜〜

"I thought you'd be out here." Penny sighed as she rubbed her arms together. She'd donned her jacket but it was still cold outside where she found Volkner smoking in front of the gym.

"Yeah. Needed a cigarette." He muttered.

Penny arched a brow and glanced at his feet. "Looks like you've already had more than one before I ever even got here." The slushed snow beneath the electric trainer was indicative of his speed-smoking with two squished cigarette butts laying near his shoe.

"Needed a _few_ cigarettes." He begrudgingly corrected himself and exhaled smoke as he looked at her in the fading evening light. Soon, the street lights would come on and night would arrive.

Penny shuffled over to him and he took her in his free arm, holding her tightly against him. She shivered at the temperature difference between their bodies and the cold air around them. "I know you're upset about the ceremony."

Volkner growled a little; this was not a subject he felt like entertaining. "What did you and Lance talk about?" He decided to change the subject. He felt her sigh against him and he glanced down to see her hot breath mirror the smoke that left his own lips. "He confess his undying love to you or something?" This time, he felt her tense.

"_Yes_, but a lot more eloquently than _that_." She frowned and nudged him.

"Hm." Was all he said back.

"I told him about... us." She hesitated to put them together; they had no titles, and she wasn't sure how that was supposed to work with someone like Volkner.

"And?" He was surprised Lance had decided to actually talk to her about the issue, considering everyone had to have known what had transpired for her to have been gone with his rival for almost a day and a half.

"Well I cried, obviously." She pouted a little.

"Obviously."

"Shut up."

Volkner chuckled a little and put his cigarette out in the snow with a stomp, encircling her with both of his arms. "So what happens now?" He desperately hoped she hadn't changed her mind.

"Whatever you want to happen, I guess. Lance just wants me to be happy. He said he already knew I'd picked you. Though he did say that he was not responsible for Dragonite's all-out-assault should you ever break my heart." She smiled a little and pressed her face against Volkner's jacket.

Volkner laughed. He hadn't felt himself laugh in awhile and it was almost a new feeling to truly laugh and feel relief like this. "If I do that, I guess I'll deserve whatever Dragonite throws my way."

"Idiot." Her voice was muffled against him.

"Yeah." He leaned down and kissed the top of her head.

They stood in the snow for a little longer before the cold nipped at their ears too much and they escaped into the gym once again. Penny entangled her fingers with his as they crossed the battle arena and headed to the elevator. Volkner pushed the button and sighed, giving her hand a tight squeeze as they waited for the doors to open.

"Volkner, about the ceremony—"

"I don't want to hear it." He snapped at her just as the elevator doors invited them in. He pulled her in and pushed the button for the second floor.

"But this is serious. If the _world_ is _ending_ then we all have to do our part." She frowned up at him, irritated that he would not even consider the possibility.

"Are you listening to yourself? Do you understand what's actually going on, Penny? You could _die_. And if it's not you, it's going to be one of your friends. You want to put them at risk? You want to put yourself at risk?" He shook his head. "No, I'm not going to let something like this happen. We'll handle a disaster like that some other way. The G-Men exist for shit like that." The elevator doors opened again and the pair walked down the hallway to Falkner's door.

"It's one life." She repeated herself from before.

Volkner shot her a sharp glare before he opened the door to the apartment. "I'm not talking about this anymore." He hissed and released her hand to see to his shoes and jacket. Penny sighed and shook her head, removing her winter shell as well.

"Good timing!" Claire said, poking her head into the entryway. "Dinner's ready!"

"I'm cold and hungry." Penny pouted. Volkner was silent; he was still fuming.

"It's stew!" Claire smiled, opting to pretend that Volkner's foul mood was invisible.

"Perfect, let's eat." Penny nodded.


	18. Chapter 18

_Chapter Eighteen_

"Polishing those things again?" Volkner asked, grinning. Penny had obsessively polished her gym badges a few times a week—she had but one left to go... _his_.

"Yep. Can't wait until I have that shiny Sunyshore badge to complete my collection." She winked at him. Volkner rolled his eyes and went to the kitchen for some water.

It had been around four months since Christmas in Violet City and spring was in the air everywhere. Even in the northern region of Sinnoh, buds on trees and flowers had sprouted and the majority of the region was already free of snow, save for the colder outer reaches. Penny and Volkner had ventured back to the region for her completion of the League's gym battles and she had shown her prowess. The duo had returned home to Sunyshore after her seventh win to rest and prepare for her final challenge against the man who started it all and subsequently stole her heart.

"Shouldn't you be training? You know we're not going easy on you." Volkner reentered the living room where Penny had begun to groom her Flareon.

"We're beautifying ourselves right now, aren't we?" She cooed to her pokemon, who nuzzled her trainer.

"I can see that." Volkner sat down on the couch to watch the two of them. Penny's long hair had grown a little more and she had decided to wear it down today. He put his glass of water on the table beside the couch and slid into the floor behind Penny as she brushed through Flareon's long, fluffy fur. His fingers entangled themselves gently in the long blonde tendrils and he slid the silky hair against his skin.

"Grooming _me_ now?" She smiled as she continued her work.

"Something like that." He muttered and leaned forward to kiss the back of her head. Never once in his entire life had he dreamed of behaving this way. And yet, here he was, feeling more content than ever and happier than he thought possible for someone like him.

"What do you say we go out for dinner tonight?" She moved on to brush Flareon's tail as she spoke.

Volkner continued to run his fingers through his beloved's hair as he entertained the idea. "Okay. I don't have any particular preferences on where to go, so I'll leave that up to you."

"Sounds like a date." She smiled as she heard his chuckle. Her time with Volkner proved it to her more than any amount of soul-searching could have: she had found her other half in him.

〜〜〜

Gale propped her chin on her upturned palm. She was leaned over on her bleacher seat watching Morty dominate his opponent in a gym battle. She and Morty had decided to come back to Ecruteak City after traveling to Kanto to visit Brock in Pewter City and a few other prime locations in Johto's sister region. Brock had visited Ecruteak a few times but ever since Christmas, his behavior was significantly different from his previous stays: he spent most of his time with _Morty_. When Brock was in town, he and Morty would go out on "guy expeditions" and Gale would not even see either of them until it was time for dinner. It was over Brock's last visit to see the couple that she finally figured out what was up.

"And the match goes to the Ecruteak City gym leader, Morty!" The gym referee shouted. Gale watched Morty go over and console the challenger with that easy, friendly smile of his. By the main entrance to the gym, movement caught her attention and she looked away from Morty and his challenger. Brock had entered the gym with a _very_ familiar face and an even more familiar head of pink hair. Gale rose from her seat in the corner of the bleachers and headed over to meet them.

"Hey, Gale." Brock said, beaming from ear to ear. His recent visits to Ecruteak were always full of similar smiles.

"Hey, Brock, Joy." Gale flicked her hand up in a wave. She smiled a little at her friend's hand that encased the smaller, paler hand of the pink-haired woman: Ecruteak City Pokemon Center's head nurse, Joy.

Previously unbeknownst to Gale, Morty had been attempting to set Brock up with his friend from the Center. Gale had to admit, it was a perfect match; even their interests seemed to line up. Brock's pokemon breeding greatly interested Joy and likewise, her job as a PRN, or Pokemon Registered Nurse, was of immense intrigue for Brock.

"You two look adorable as usual." Gale teased. Joy blushed a little and Brock laughed.

"Yeah, well." He was not as good at hiding his embarrassment as he would have liked.

Gale chuckled and motioned for them to follow her as she walked back over to the bleachers. "Morty just finished his last gym challenge for today, he had two others."

"Yes, I know." Joy's face morphed into a knowing smile. "His pokemon already visited me once today."

"Oh, right." Gale grinned sheepishly and walked back to the bleachers with the couple in tow. "Well, he should be finishing up soon. Do you guys want to go over to his place and we can start dinner? He can meet up with us when he gets ready." She leaned over and picked up her bag and other belongings as Brock and Joy stood near her.

"I don't think Morty would be angry if we went ahead and started dinner. That's just less time he has to spend waiting for it." Joy teased; she'd known Morty quite well for a long time.

"I think you're right." Gale laughed as she gave Morty a big wave before the trio made their way out of the gym and headed down the street toward Morty's house.

〜〜〜

Upon arriving at the house, the trio broke off: Joy went to the courtyard with Brock and Gale's pokemon, along with her own Chansey and Blissey, and fed the pokemon their own dinner while Gale and Brock went to the kitchen to do what they did best together.

"Pass me that knife." Brock said.

"Pass me that spatula." Gale replied as she handed Brock the chopping knife he'd requested.

"Gale?" Joy's voice carried through the hallway as did a mechanical melody and both were coming closer. "Your Pokegear is ringing. I know your hands are in the food, so should I answer it for you? It's gone off a few times and I hated not to tell you."

Gale glanced behind her as Joy appeared in the doorway. "Oh, sure, that's fine. Tell whoever it is that I'm cooking and I'll get back to them." She returned to her work as Joy left the room to answer the call. Almost immediately Joy was back and this time, she appeared a lot more frantic.

"J-Gale, it's Penny." Joy was very acquainted with Penny; she had been the one to heal the blonde's pokemon after her traumatizing forest battle with the Shadow Triad.

"Wait, what? What's wrong?" Gale put her cooking utensils down and Brock stopped his vegetable chopping.

"She said that... Claire's gone missing."

〜〜〜

Claire eased her eyes open and coughed a little; the air in her cell was a lot colder than her lungs would have liked. She curled up in a tight ball on the hard, tiny bed. She had no idea where they were, but she knew that she was being transported somewhere. Reaching behind her, she pulled the thin blanket over her head and whimpered; how much longer would it be until they were going to stop? Where were they taking her? She didn't understand what was happening around her; they couldn't have the information on the Arceus ceremony, could they? And so what if they did; the world was not in imminent danger. There was no way they could have found the other girls and taken them out this quickly either. So what were they doing?

She lay there in silence for an indeterminable amount of time. All she could think of was Falkner's face as he screamed her name. She was only half conscious as she was loaded onto what she later learned was the Team Plasma frigate and that they were going to transport her somewhere. She had been given a meager dinner a few hours ago, at least what felt like hours to her. She was kept in a cell-like room in the lower decks and her cell had no windows. At first, she had fallen unconscious; during the Plasma attack, she had almost been knocked out as Falkner fought ferociously for her on the roof of the Violet City gym. Once she awoke, she had cried for awhile until she had exhausted herself once more. After her nap, she found her dinner had been delivered while she slept and had forced herself to eat through a few inescapable tears.

"Hey!"

She jumped at hearing a voice; no one had visited her when she had been awake. "What...?" Slowly, she sat up and watched as a trio of Team Plasma grunts entered her cell.

"You're coming up top." One said and roughly jerked her out of bed.

Claire stumbled a little and looked between the men, shivering from the coldness of the ship and the fear she had of her situation. "Where are we going?"

"You'll see when we get there." The men began to take her through a few curving hallways and finally they reached the stairs to ascend to the main deck of the frigate. As they arrived on the deck, Claire made a mad dash but was grabbed by each arm; her pokemon were out of their pokeballs and all wearing strange, blinking collars.

"G-Guys!" She shouted and squirmed against the grunts who held her still.

"I've gone through a lot of trouble to get one of you Voices." Claire heard a new male voice behind her and she snapped her attention to him as he walked calmly around her. He was cloaked in black and his spiked green hair was visible above the elevated collar of his clothing.

"W-Who are you?" She squirmed and trembled.

The man turned toward her and gave her the most evil sneer she had ever witnessed; it made her quake in her shoes. He peered at her through his narrowed eye and red monocle as his sneer fell from his face. "Bring her the sheet music." He commanded and a female Team Plasma member walked over, handing Claire a small packet of papers. The grunts holding Claire's arms released her but remained threateningly close. "As you can see, we are currently on our way to our final destination. Before we arrive, however, I have a job for you to complete." He flicked his hand outside of his cloak and suddenly at his side stood the Shadow Triad. Claire gulped; these men terrified her more than even the man she had begun to suspect as the leader of Team Plasma. "I need for you to sing the song printed on those pages."

"What will happen when I do?" She asked, gritting her teeth. This situation was bad, it had her stomach feeling nauseous.

"Curious thing, aren't you?" The green-haired man scoffed. "Alright. I will answer your questions." He waved a grunt over and the man handed over a small black device. "I am Ghetsis, the leader of Team Plasma. Currently, we are over Sinnoh airspace on our way to Mount Coronet. You will sing that song in your hands and you will singlehandedly summon Dialga and Palkia into this plane of existence. It is likely that Giratina will attempt to quell the inevitable battle that will instantly ensue once Dialga and Palkia come in contact with one another." He paused as he watched the pale, frightened young woman before him. "I'm unsure if you were aware of this, but once those three pokemon begin their battle with one another, space and time as we know it will be easily ripped apart at the very seams. This world will be torn asunder."

Claire's eyes widened. "T-The... end of the world." She was breathless and her eyes fell to the notes and words on the page. "How... will this song do that? Why?" Her mind began racing; there had to be a way for her to get out of this, she could sing it wrong, she could try to scream and lose her voice, she had to do _something_.

"You truly believe that the intelligence network of Steven Stone is the only extensive research organization in the world? I have quite the team at my disposal, as I'm sure you've learned. It did take some extra planning, but manipulating data records to hide certain information is not altogether impossible. I had to keep Mr. Stone's network from reaching any information on the sister ceremony to the Summoning of Arceus." Ghetsis rolled his eyes as he began to pace in front her lined up team of pokemon and his own Shadow Triad. "The Creation Trio summoning ceremony is a far simpler process than summoning _Arceus_." He almost chuckled at the violent gasp that came from Claire's throat. "Of course, I have all the information on that ceremony as well. Tell me, what would you guess would be the requirements for summoning the great Creation Trio?"

Claire gulped and shook her head. "I-I don't know." She glanced around and locked eyes with her Charizard. He looked desperate and she grit her teeth again; she had to be strong for _them_. "But I'm not going to do it. I'm not going to end this world."

"Oh, of course you aren't going to end the world. After all, we must summon Arceus to save it." Ghetsis waved a hand in the air. "Once he appears, he will belong to Team Plasma. Capturing a legendary pokemon is _not_ an impossible feat. If it is a pokemon, it _can_ be controlled."

Claire stared at him. "Capturing... You're planning on capturing _Arceus?!"_ She yelped at him and felt her body trembling again.

"That has been my plan all along. Possessing the so-called 'origin pokemon' or 'pokemon deity' will make _me_ the king, the _god_ even, of this world." Ghetsis held his hand out and in it was the black device he had received earlier. "Of course, I do not expect you to comply so easily. Convenient for me that the stipulations of the Creation Trio ceremony include the song in your hands and the desperate heart of one willing to sacrifice the world for their loved ones."

"What... are you saying?" Claire's voice quivered as she spoke. Suddenly, Ghetsis pushed a little button on his device and her Charizard fell to the deck of the ship, writhing and bellowing in pain. "Charizard!" Tears immediately came to her eyes as she watched her darling partner. The strange collar around his neck flashed with lights.

"These collars pump your pokemon with varying volts of electricity. If I so choose, I can _kill_ them at the press of a button." Ghetsis explained. Claire had once again been seized by a Plasma grunt who held her back. "So, my lady Voice, tell me something: will you watched your pokemon die one-by-one or will you sing the song? You will save your pokemon and, after we summon Arceus, you will save the _world_. Really, you are losing nothing by merely singing the words on those pages." He pushed another button and Claire's tiny Wooper yelped and screeched as he activated her collar.

"Oh, please stop!" She cried and fell to her knees.

"Sing!" Ghetsis shouted.

Claire shook her head and planted her hands on the wooden floor of the deck, smacking them against the pages of the song she held pinned between her skin and the floor. "I can't!"

"Then they will _die!_" Ghetsis pushed a few more buttons and all of her pokemon were wailing in excruciating pain.

Claire sobbed as she watched them and again locked eyes with her Charizard. She shook her head and carefully pried the tear-stained pages of the summoning song off of the deck. "I'm so sorry." She whimpered and pushed herself onto her shaking legs. She wiped her face free of tears until she could read the words on the papers. "I-I'll do it." She muttered.

"What was that?" Ghetsis amped up the voltage on her pokemon and they howled louder.

"I said I'll do it!" Claire screamed. All at once, her pokemon's screams died down and they all lay panting and whimpering on the deck floor; Ghetsis had turned the collars off.

"Good girl. Now, _sing_."


	19. Chapter 19

_Chapter Nineteen_

Falkner made his way into the Sunyshore Gym with a slow gait and a lowered head. Behind him, his Xatu shuffled sadly along. Seated on the gym bleachers near the entrance to the back office were Gale, Morty and Steven. Volkner's office door was open and the sounds of a television and conversation could be heard from within.

"Any luck?" Gale called and waved at the disheartened bird master. Falkner shook his head and made his way over to the trio on the bleachers.

"We'll find her, Falkner." Steven patted Falkner's shoulder and Xatu planted itself on the gym floor in front of his trainer.

"Yeah. Lance is on the phone right now to the big guys back in Kanto and we're organizing search parties across all of the regions. This is a matter of _worldwide _security as well as a missing person's case." Morty reassured his old friend.

"She's a celebrity on top of that. If she's anywhere, someone will spot her." Gale nodded.

"Yeah." Falkner's voice was weak, however. It had been a day already; everyone had used pokemon in order to teleport to the Sunyshore Gym to use it as a base of operations. Rather than Penny and Volkner teleporting down to the rest of the groups, all of whom were in Johto—even Steven who had visited Morty and Gale—everyone decided on Sinnoh. Steven's most recent discovery was the actual location of the Arceus summoning ceremony: Mount Coronet in Sinnoh. It was a group decision that they needed to be close to the ceremonial location in order to protect it just in case Team Plasma were to try anything suspicious in the Sinnoh mountains.

〜〜〜

"Hey!" Penny's voice broke the tense silence that had befallen the quartet on the bleachers. She poked her head out of Volkner's office and waved at her friends. "You guys need to get in here _now_." She disappeared again and everyone hurried to crowd into the office.

"What's going on?" Gale asked, walking around to the side of Volkner's desk. She stood beside Penny as Volkner turned the office television's volume up to the maximum setting.

"As I stated," the reporter on news broadcast looked like she had found herself in the middle of a vicious wind storm. "Citizens in the remote vicinity of Mount Coronet are required to evacuate as close to the coast as possible. There are already lists of pokemon and humans reported missing and that list continues to grow."

"What's going on?" Steven stared at the television.

"There was a news bulletin about an entire small town at the base of Mount Coronet having _disappeared_." Penny glanced between her group.

"Are you serious?!" Gale shook her head. "We _came_ up here to defend Mount Coronet."

"You know it's them!" Falkner shouted and pushed his way to the front of the group. "Team Plasma is causing this!"

"I know how you feel, Falkner, but wait. She's coming back on the screen." Lance instructed; his injuries had finally healed and he was his old, intimidating self once again.

"The images you are about to see may be frightening, so we want to caution viewers who may have friends or family in the vicinity of Mount Coronet before we show them." The reporter's face disappeared from the screen and the group gasped at what followed: shaky, amateur video footage, likely captured from a Pokenav or Poketech, showed a house being devoured by what looked like a giant black void. The void slowly grew across the house's lawn, encroaching toward the person filming and finally the footage switched to an alternative one, showing a similar situation from a different location.

"What _is_ that?" Penny shook her head.

"I... don't know." Steven was baffled.

"It's like a black hole or something." Gale frowned deeply; this was _dangerous_.

"These people and pokemon aren't disappearing. Whatever that shit is, it's devouring them." Volkner glared angrily at the television screen as the reporter finally returned.

"It has been established that the Sinnoh region is in a state of emergency. We would like to urge all people and pokemon to, once again, please do what you can to evacuate toward the coasts if at all possible and to absolutely not attempt to interact with the black substance shown in those video clips. The substance is currently unidentifiable by local and regional authorities, but it is extremely dangerous. Any contact with this substance _will_, authorities state, consume whatever it touches. Please, whatever you do, do not come in contact with it." The reporter looked frightened; she was likely close to the danger zone, judging from the erratic weather patterns that seemed to be happening in the background.

"My God..." Gale shook her head.

Penny frowned with a heavy sigh. "We've got to do something."

"Like _what?"_ Volkner hissed. The blonde woman frowned and pulled her hair up into her signature ponytail.

"Claire's still missing." Falkner protested. "What if my wife came in contact with this?!"

"That would mean she's in Sinnoh." Morty said, widening his eyes and looking around at his group of friends. One by one, everyone developed knowing looks on their faces.

"She _is._" Lance sounded grave. Everyone turned and stared at Lance.

"What? How do you know?" Falkner was desperate to have his beloved back in his arms where he could keep her safe. This time, he _swore_ he would win.

"She was kidnapped. It's all so _obvious." _Lance made fists in anger and shook his head. "This was their plan all along." He ran his fingers through his hair and was suddenly exasperated.

"How do you figure?" Steven glanced between the faces of the people he'd come to love and consider his true family.

"Think about it, guys. Team Plasma wanted the girls for their significance as the Ceremonial Trio, the ones to summon Arceus." Lance's face contorted with anger. "The only way to summon Arceus was if the world was ending, correct?" His words sounded like poison as they left his lips.

"Hell no." Volkner almost growled his own words out.

"Shut up and listen." Penny had not used such an intense tone with him in a long time.

"Alright. Well clearly the world is in serious trouble _now._" Lance ran his fingers through his hair again. "And where's it all centered? Right here in Sinnoh, _right_ where the girls would have to be for the Arceus ceremony."

"Why does Team Plasma want to summon something so dangerous anyway? Arceus was rumored to have made this world in all of the legends I found. It could easily destroy it too, if everything I've read is factual truth." Steven tapped his foot on the floor; the entire room was filled with nervous, apprehensive tension.

"I have no idea, but they obviously wanted possession of the girls and only ever considered them as the Ceremonial Trio. We have to assume that Team Plasma is behind whatever the hell is going on at Coronet." Lance stood upright and had a dark shadow pass across his face. He had become a different man. "We are the most elite members of the Pokemon G-Men. Whether Team Plasma is behind this or not, we have the authority to deploy ourselves out and rectify this situation. There are lives on the line here. As head of the team, I'm _ordering_ all of you: we're going to Mount Coronet."

"It might have a lead that could take us to Claire even if she's nowhere around." Morty put a strong hand on Falkner's shoulder. Falkner nodded his agreement and put a on a brave face. This was his chance to save his wife. If she were nowhere near the mountain, he would help his friends, his _team_, bring a close to whatever the cause of this disaster was and then he would find his missing beloved.

"We're coming with you." Penny snatched Gale's hand and squeezed it tight within her own. Gale quickly glanced at her friend before she set her jaw; she knew _exactly_ what Penny was thinking.

Volkner rose from his desk chair and glowered angrily at the girls. "Excuse me?"

"You heard me." Penny hissed.

"I'm not sure you two could handle what's going on out there. It's better if we go. We're trained for these kinds of unpredictable situations." Steven put on the most gentle voice he could muster in the tense room.

"None of you are trained in the art of summoning _Arceus."_ Penny gripped Gale's hand as she spoke. Gale glanced down at their hands; Penny's trembled in hers.

"I'll be damned if you're going to do that shit!" Volkner bellowed as he slammed his fist on the desk.

"Volkner." Morty warned; Volkner's temper was not something that needed to explode at such a tediously critical time.

"I'm not too thrilled about this idea either, ladies." Lance had removed all of the closeness he had to the girls in that single statement; he was already in the mindset that he was the leader of the elite force of the G-Men and he was never willing to put a civilian in harm's way.

"Well I couldn't care less if you guys like it or hate it. We're going. I _know_ she's there. I can _feel_ it." Penny shook her head.

"She's right." Gale glanced between all of the men. "I don't feel right about all of this. I'm feeling like I'm being pulled toward that mountain. We have to go."

"Are you two idiots?!" Volkner was not about to be quelled. "One of you is going to die if you try to summon Arceus, or did you both happen to forget that minor detail?"

"I didn't forget!" Penny screamed. The room fell silent. "I didn't forget, but you don't understand our position. We were _brought_ here for this. If I didn't believe it before, I believe it now. Who the hell are we to run away from what we were brought to this world to do?" Her hand shook even more in Gale's and her eyes filled themselves with tears that she desperately fought back. "One life versus the lives of all those in danger. One single life, an _important life_, I know that. But how long until that black... _stuff_ reaches a bigger city? How many people and pokemon are missing right now and got absorbed by that stuff? How many more? It could devour all of Sinnoh, Volkner! Why can't you understand this is out of your hands, it's beyond you!" She started shouting at him again as she finished her short monologue and Gale squeezed her hand to calm her friend.

"Alright, enough." Lance's voice was full of authority. "Girls, I will let you come with us on a single condition: you stay behind us and you heed our _every_ order. You will not go against orders at any point. If we order you to evacuate, I will tolerate no questions, you _will_ evacuate. Do I make myself clear?" He folded his arms and stared the girls down.

"Crystal." Gale answered before Penny got the chance to. Penny grit her teeth and stared at the floor.

Lance nodded and swiftly made for the exit of the office. "Let's move. I want all pokemon capable of teleportation out and briefed immediately on the location of our mission. We're going directly to the summit of Mount Coronet." As he spoke, the rest of the men followed; Volkner provided Penny with not a single glance. The men discussed teleportation destinations and Lance produced a map from within his cloak.

"Are you ready for this?" Gale asked Penny as the girls followed the group.

"As I'll ever be. Something's telling me this is where we have to be though, Gale. I don't know... I can't ignore this." Penny shook her head and chewed on her lip as she watched the men prepare for their trip.

Gale watched as Steven's Claydol suddenly disappeared with Morty and Lance. "Truthfully? Me too. I can't believe this. It's surreal." She spoke softly as the men rearranged and Falkner's Xatu disappeared with his trainer and Steven. Volkner turned toward the girls. Gale looked between the couple and stayed silent. Penny's hand in hers was hot from the emotions boiling within the blonde.

"You heard him. You stay close to me and you keep yourself safe." Volkner's voice was ragged; he was so obviously attempting to mask his fear for Penny with irritation and anger.

"I know." Penny nodded as Claydol and Xatu reappeared.

"Let's go, guys." Gale released Penny's hand and gave her a wink. "Hey, Xatu." She smiled thinly and placed her hand on the bird's back. The next instant, she and Xatu were gone. Penny and Volkner placed their own hands on Claydol's head, each staring into the other's eyes as they, too, disappeared and left the Sunyshore City gym empty and silent, all save for the television voices that emitted from the gym office's open door.


	20. Chapter 20

_Chapter Twenty_

The summit of Mount Coronet was instant chaos. Penny fell against Volkner at the frightening bellow of a pokemon she had never heard before. The sound was so loud, she felt it in her chest. Nearby, crouching behind a rock outcropping was the rest of the group and she, Volkner and Claydol made their way over quickly.

"What was that?" Penny asked as Volkner pressed her against his chest and kneeled behind Lance.

"I'm not sure, but whatever it was, it sounded _big_." The electric trainer frowned. The sky erupted in a bright flash of pink and blue somewhere on the opposite side of the outcropping, and was coupled with a sound akin to crashing thunder and the cries of _multiple_ large pokemon. That singular bellowing pokemon was not alone.

"We've got to get closer to wherever these pokemon are fighting." Lance instructed. "Girls, I know you're going to try to fight me on this, but this is an order: stay here." He watched Penny open her mouth and he glared at her. "You _will_ stay here. If you two are _needed _for the Arceus ceremony, we'll retrieve you with Xatu and Claydol. Understood?" He glared at the girls until they finally nodded their agreement with his plan and then he turned his attention to the men in the group. "First and foremost, this is a reconnaissance mission. We have to assess what the hell is going on up here and see what we can do about it. Small teams first: I want Volkner with me; if anything goes south, you can use one of my dragons to escape. Morty, Steven and Falkner, you three are the second team. Use the emergency channel for communication and this rock outcrop is our rendezvous base point. Volkner and I are heading up this side of the summit. You three, go the other way." Seeing Lance in his authoritative mode in a crisis setting threw both Penny and Gale off; they had never seen him behave this way.

"Roger that." Steven nodded and gave the girls a small salute. "Stay hidden. It's the safest thing to do." He gestured to his teammates and headed off, Falkner hot on his heels.

Morty took a brief second to give Gale a quick kiss. "Hands on your pokeballs. If something happens, _fight_." Quickly, he followed his teammates. Gale sighed heavily and scooted close against the rocks to further hide herself.

"Let's go, Volkner." Lance said and he cast a brief glance at Penny before flicking his cape and disappearing around the opposite side of the outcropping from the other team.

Volkner grit his teeth. He pushed Penny back from his chest for a moment to stare into her face. "Don't do that stupid ceremony, alright? Just stay here. I'll come back for you." He kissed her hard and she clung to him. Finally, he released her and hurried after Lance. Penny bit her lip and made her way over to Gale.

"Here we are." Gale muttered, listening to the thundering battle cries of _whatever_ pokemon were warring in the skies above the summit of Mount Coronet.

"I've never heard sounds like this in my life." Penny was trembling. Every time the sky lit up, it flashed both pink and blue like ethereal lightening and the booming thunder immediately followed.

"What do you think is going on?" Gale pulled her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around her legs.

"Something bad." Penny said, needlessly. She mirrored Gale in her seating position and hid her face behind her knees. "Something dangerous. I hope Claire isn't out here in all of this."

"She'll be okay." Gale sounded reassuring somehow, despite the terrifying chaos that surrounded the two of them. "They all will."

"I know." Penny's voice was muffled by her body and the girls fell silent, listening to the obvious war in the sky rage on.

〜〜〜

Steven, Morty and Falkner walked carefully up the rocky sloped side of the summit. The sounds of whatever was battling above the clouds raged on. They had not been able to see anything significant as of yet.

"Keep your wits about you. Who knows when we'll find some unfriendly guest." Steven instructed; as a man with a regional champion title, he was the automatic team leader.

"You said it. This entire place is making every hair on my body stand on end. I don't _feel_ right here." Morty frowned.

Steven glanced over at his sensitive friend. Morty was almost a walking meter for any strange activity with his ability to sense and feel anomalies along with his medium-like visions. "What do you feel, Morty?"

"I can't put my finger on anything in particular. More like, whatever's up above this cloud cover is so immense that I can't figure out how many entities are up there. Their energies are so strong that they're melding together. It's already given me a headache just being this close. But the closer we get to the actual peak of the mountain, the stronger and heavier this feeling is getting." Morty rubbed the side of his head as he spoke, almost demonstrating his headache to his teammates.

"Then maybe whatever's causing this is waiting for us there." Falkner said. "Let's go. Maybe we can find a clue to Claire's location." He picked up his pace and immediately, Steven and Morty followed.

〜〜〜

Up a different path, Volkner and Lance were attempting to figure out if there were any signs of Team Plasma's interactions with these strange events. The pair followed Volkner's Luxray, who—despite his own immense power—seemed almost too frightened to continue toward the summit's peak.

"See anything significant?" Volkner asked his electric lion. Luxray rumbled a growl; the eyes of a Luxray were able to see through objects, walls, any obstructions for hunting purposes and keeping track of its young in the wild. Volkner's Luxray was used to being the one to find things for his trainer, or to disambiguate situations for him. Right now, Luxray could see above the clouds and he could see the summit peak. He growled and rumbled in his throat; he did not want to be here and made it quite clear to the men who walked on either side of him.

"Whatever he sees, he's not liking it." Lance reached a hand to his pokeball belt. "Come on. Let's get up there. I don't like that we've seen _nothing_ this whole walk up here." He started off in a jog and Volkner followed suit, with Luxray right at his side.

The pair reached the peak of the mountain a few minutes later. There, they found a huge stone column whose base was almost the size of a house and whose top extended up past the low-hanging clouds.

"Is that...?" Volkner stared hatefully at the inanimate structure.

"It's got to be the Spear Pillar." Lance finished his partner's thought. Luxray leapt in front of his trainer and began growling and angrily snarling at the pillar.

"What's up? Something in there?" Volkner reached a hand to another pokeball and Lance immediately released Dragonite. Luxray shook its large head and bolted toward the side of the pillar. Volkner and Lance exchanged no looks; they were both in battle-mode and followed the pokemon. They rounded the base of the large pillar and it was there that they found exactly what they had been looking for. Moments later, from the opposite direction, Steven, Morty and Falkner appeared. In between the two teams stood a large group of Team Plasma grunts—the entire crew of the Plasma frigate—along with the Shadow Triad and Claire who was held at the arm by a strange man with green hair and a red monocle.

"Claire!" Falkner shouted, but he did not approach. Instead, he released his Pidgeot and Aerodactyl.

"Nice of you to join us. I am Ghetsis." The green-haired man smirked arrogantly. He assessed the groups before him for a moment. "I trust you brought the final two pieces to my puzzle along?" He glanced at his grunts. "Find them." Half of the grunts split off from the group and halved again, some going toward Steven's group and the others going toward Lance and Volkner.

"You're not getting past us!" Steven shouted and his Aggron appeared before him, bellowing angrily.

"Hyper Beam." Lance instructed Dragonite. Every single grunt on the peak released their pokemon teams of two and three each. Within a matter of seconds, the entire peak of Mount Coronet was a battlefield full of pokemon from both sides.

"Keep her out of the way." Ghetsis instructed the Shadow Triad and shoved Claire into the arms of one of the men. The trio of ninja men surrounded Claire and all released their Bisharp to join in the fray. One of the men held fast to Claire's forearm, one instructed his Bisharp to join the battle and the third held a briefcase; Claire had noticed that the briefcase had been loaded with pokeballs when she saw Ghetsis arranging things inside. Coupled with what she knew about the ceremony and about Ghetsis's preparedness for it, she had come to her own conclusion that Team Plasma had gathered pokemon for the ceremony. Ghetsis watched as his team battled some of the strongest men in the world. Sheer numbers made it difficult for the G-Men; the skill-level most of the Plasma grunts possessed was not parallel with that of seasoned master trainers, but Ghetsis had made it a point to bring along the most skilled battlers he had at his disposal; with danger levels running high, the battle was difficult to gain an edge in.

"Watch your back!" Morty shouted and threw his Froslass pokeball over near Falkner just as a Plasma grunt sent an attack Falkner's way. "Icy Wind!" Froslass froze the Plasma grunt and his pokemon in their tracks.

"Thanks!" Falkner glanced behind him as he sent Honchcrow into battle.

"We're getting nowhere." Steven growled. "Skarmory, Steel Wing! Aggron, Iron Tail!" It felt like once he defeated a group of pokemon and trainers, a whole new group surrounded him.

"We've got to mount a serious attack. Stay focused!" Lance's voice came from above; he was on Dragonite's back. "Outrage! Dragonite, Hydreigon!"

"Thunder!" Volkner was the closest to Ghetsis and Electivire's bellow turned a few of the overhead clouds darker than before as a powerful electric attack struck the grunts and pokemon in the vicinity of the electric duo.

"You three." Ghetsis stepped over to the Shadow Triad. "They're not unified enough in their execution. I think the other two are here. I want them found."

Claire's attention snapped from watching her husband fight to Ghetsis's sinister face. "They wouldn't bring the girls here!" She shook her head.

Ghetsis chuckled mockingly. "Is that so? I find that interesting. Alright then," he gestured at the battle raging between the five G-Men and countless Plasma pokemon. "Why do you suppose that your 'saviors' would rather fight an enemy that grossly outnumbers them than to allow a portion of that enemy to escape down the mountain?" He turned back toward Claire. "They are _protecting_ something."

Claire looked between Ghetsis and her loved ones who really were focusing on the outer rims of the battle; they _were_ keeping every Plasma member from leaving the peak. "They wouldn't risk that..." As she watched the battle rage on, she suddenly could not be so certain that Ghetsis was wrong.

"I want two of you to find them. Go, now." Ghetsis instructed. One member of the Shadow Triad held a painfully tight grip on Claire's forearm while the other two dashed off with their Bisharp in tow.

"No!" Claire screamed and struggled, but the Triad member who held her was far stronger.

Volkner's head snapped in Claire's direction when he heard her scream. Charging in his direction was one of the Shadow Triad and Volkner's lip curled in an animalistic snarl. "Luxray!" He growled. "Wild Charge!" He dashed after his speeding pokemon. Luxray plowed into the Triad ninja's Bisharp and the two began a ferocious battle on their own. "You're mine, you son of a bitch!" Volkner reached his adversary and threw a hard punch. The ninja ducked to dodge it and slipped a low-aimed kick for Volkner's legs. Volkner leapt back for a second only to dive right back in with another punch. He tussled with the Triad ninja for a few minutes, landing a few punches and receiving some hard blows himself. His lip bled from a punch to the face and his side ached from a heavy roundhouse kick. The ninja was not without his own injuries, however—Volkner was a worthy opponent. The pain was nothing to him at this moment; all Volkner could see was _red_. His anger was worth that of a Dragon Rage.

〜〜〜

"We've got to be getting close now." Penny looked around with wild eyes.

"Yeah, all that shouting and all these pokemon noises sound like they're right over that ledge up there." Gale and Penny had picked a much more difficult and steep path after having decided that the guys had been gone for far too long without any contact. They had taken matters into their own hands. "Here, give me your hand, I'll help you up here." Gale crawled up onto a rock and reached down to help her friend up. All of her expeditions with Brock in the mountains had helped her more than she had realized. She hoisted Penny onto the rock with her and the girls continued up the mountain.

After a few more minutes of climbing, walking and running, they had finally reached the peak. The girls stood in shocked terror at the violent battle that raged. Their eyes scanned the scene, making sure that all of their friends were, indeed, still fighting. They were relived to a degree; everyone was accounted for but everyone was looking battle-worn.

"Penny!" Gale grabbed Penny's arm and pointed: at the base of the huge cylindrical structure that bore witness to the battle stood their missing Claire in the hands of a Shadow Triad member and another unknown man.

"Then we've got to help." Penny released all six of her Eevee evolutions and Gale mirrored, releasing her own fully developed team.

"Let's go." Gale nodded with a frown set on her face. She jumped up onto the back of her Sawsbuck and looked back at her blonde friend. The wind at the top of the mountain was severe and it blew around them as fiercely as the battles that raged in front of them.

"Right." Penny dashed toward the fray and Gale galloped off on Sawsbuck with her team in a different direction.

〜〜〜

"Gale!?" Steven swooped over as he saw the girl executing her first command in the battle. He sat perched atop Skarmory.

"Sorry!" Gale shouted as she pointed in a direction for her Bouffalant's next attack. "We couldn't just sit and wait to be picked up!"

Steven and Skarmory hovered over her, each with a respective frown as the Hoenn champion surveyed the situation from the air. "I can't say I'm thrilled to see you. But I won't stop you from fighting. I'll help you!" He soared around and attacked some of the enemies nearest Gale and her pokemon. His steel types thundered around nearby, having been given orders to "attack at will" any enemy that came their way.

"Thanks!" Gale flicked her hand up in a wave to him and focused on the enemy pokemon and Plasma members nearest her.

〜〜〜

"Vaporeon, Hydro Pump! Let's keep going, we've got to get to Claire!" Penny commanded her team, all of whom were gathered tightly around their trainer. Vaporeon unleashed a powerful jet of water from his mouth, clearing the way further ahead of them and the group trudged onward into the fray. On the other side of a battle raging between who she knew was Volkner's Electivire and a pair of Team Plasma Liepard, she caught a glimpse of Luxray fighting a difficult battle against a Bisharp. She felt her heart skip a beat; _they_ were here. "Flareon!" She dashed toward Luxray, evading the warring Liepard duo and Electivire. "Fire Blast! Luxray, _move!"_ She shouted. Luxray leaped away on his powerful legs as Flareon blanketed the steel Bisharp in a hail of flames. She paused for a moment, looking around for the best route to take to get to the base of the immense pillar in the center of the mountain peak so she could retrieve her friend.

"I don't think so, asshole!" She heard a familiar voice and glanced to her right: there was Volkner and a Shadow Triad ninja, fighting each other, hand to hand. Volkner spun the fight so that his back was to Penny; he was protecting her.

Penny gulped a little as she watched them exchanging blows. Her eyes widened as she watched the ninja withdraw two shining silver blades from the boots he wore. "Volkner!" She took a step in their direction as Umbreon bit the bottom of her shirt and tugged her back.

"_Go!"_ Volkner yelled.

Penny flinched and grit her teeth. Umbreon released her as Leafeon and Glaceon yipped at her. "Alright, let's go." She muttered. She hurried off and glanced back at Volkner. She stopped. Her breath stopped in her throat. The world stopped. Volkner froze; emerging from his back was a shining silver blade that dripped with inky crimson. Penny began to shake as she watched the blade withdraw and Volkner crumpled to the ground. The Shadow Triad ninja stood over his opponent and carelessly rolled him over with his foot. For a moment, Penny was unaware that the piercing, howling scream was coming from her own throat. A few of the Plasma members closer to her who had been battling Volkner's pokemon turned their attention to her. Their pokemon approached. Penny's eyes flashed along with the roaring sky that seemed more to mirror her inner emotions than any raging war above the clouds. "Hydro Pump! Fire Blast! Blizzard! Solar Beam! Dark Pulse!" Her throat scratched as she screeched the attack names. Her pokemon leapt into battle. "Espeon." She looked down at her lilac partner and dashed toward the Shadow Triad ninja. He stood over Volkner's motionless body staring at her. Espeon sped off after her trainer. The ninja shook his blade free of the blood that stained it and stepped over Volkner to face the raging blonde who sprinted toward him.

_Jolt!_ Volkner's Jolteon appeared at her side, speeding along with her gait and she gave him a quick glance. "Thunder Wave! He won't get away!" She couldn't speak without screaming. Jolteon howled and fired off a Thunder Wave at the ninja, who cartwheeled out of the way. "Espeon!" She thrust her finger out as she pointed her shaking digit at the murderer before her. "Jolteon, do not stop until you hit him! Espeon, Psychic! Do not let him _move_!" The two Eevee evolutions took aim and sent the ninja dancing to avoid her commanded attacks. Penny screamed as she reached him, a sound that was as inhuman as those that showered down from the battle above the clouds. Espeon and Jolteon adjusted themselves and hopped around, having to be ultra careful that their attacks would not hit Penny as she attempted to engage the man in a physical fight. She was nowhere near Volkner's level of strength or fist-fighting experience, but her raging heart was blinded to that fact. She threw a punch that the ninja grabbed easily and flipped her onto her back right next to the body of his previous adversary.

"I cannot kill you." He spoke to her behind his mask as he pinned her to the rocky ground. Her head throbbed from her fall.

"_Now!"_ She screamed in his face and she watched his eyes widen as his body began to glow a soft blue; Espeon had him. He growled a little and struggled as Penny managed to shove him off and she crawled to her knees. "You and your pokemon are _murderers_. I refuse to let my pokemon become stained." She hissed the words between almost clenched teeth as she wretched a dagger from the paralyzed ninja's hand. Her lip curled in a growl that mirrored a wild pokemon. "I'll bloody my own hands first." She heard Jolteon howl at her from behind and she took the blade between both of her hands. Her eyes passed over Volkner who lay a few feet away before she locked gazes with the man her Espeon held in her psychic grasp. Penny crawled on top of him and raised the blade; she was shaking. "_You killed him!"_ Her scream pierced the air as she thrust the dagger downward. She flinched at the contact. Her eyes sprang closed as a hot wet hit her face and she pressed harder. Espeon yipped frantically and dashed toward Penny, releasing the man from her psychic hold. The ninja writhed for a moment beneath Penny, who was only able to hold him due to her immense adrenaline rush and his own weakened state. After a minute, he stopped moving. Penny sat on him, shaking violently with her hands still wrapped around the handle of the dagger that stuck out of his chest. Espeon and Jolteon came over to her. Espeon tugged on Penny's sleeve and Penny slowly opened her eyes. Lifeless ones stared back at her. She was panting for air as she turned her head and looked at Espeon, who looked overcome with sorrow. Some of Penny's hair had fallen from her ponytail and she pushed herself up off the body of the ninja and stumbled a little toward Volkner. Battles raged all around her. Espeon and Jolteon stayed close to her, ready to defend her if anyone should attack. She fell to her knees and immediately began sobbing heavily. She scooped Volkner up into her lap, gently stroking his face as she cried. Her tears wracked her body so violently that she choked for air every few breaths. She doubled over, putting her forehead against Volkner's and screamed as her tears fell. This was not real life. This was hell.

She sat, cradling Volkner for a few more minutes before she felt Espeon tugging on her sleeve again. She looked over at her pokemon with hollow eyes. Her tears had smudged the blood of Volkner's murderer on her cheeks. Espeon mewled a little and looked in the direction of the pillar. Penny felt her heart lurch; she still needed to help Claire. She gently put Volkner back onto the rocky ground and took her thin jacket off, draping it across his chest to cover the gaping wound. She took her own sleeve and wiped the blood from his mouth and face. Leaning down, she placed her lips on his for a second. "I love you." She whispered and willed herself to stand. Her half-lidded eyes surveyed the immediate area and she spotted Electivire. "Jolteon. I want Volkner out of this battlefield. Get Electivire and you two take him somewhere safe." She looked down at the electric pokemon who was looking longingly at his trainer on the ground. Jolteon stood still for a minute before he dashed off to retrieve Electivire. Penny turned toward Espeon and made sure she could spot her team; they were okay. "Alright. Round up the team, Espeon. Let's go." She stepped over to the body of the ninja and jerked the dagger from his chest. Espeon's eyes glowed as she made contact with the rest of her team and they all made their way out of their current battles and back to their trainer. They all stared at her in shock and they all awaited silently for their orders. "Follow me."

〜〜〜

"We need to regroup!" Lance shouted. "Since the girls are here, we've got to mount whatever kind of counter-attack we can!" Below him, Morty had teamed up with Gale. Steven and Falkner had decided to try and make an assault closer to the pillar to free Claire and bring her to safety. Between having so many power-hitters nearby, they had easily overcome a single Shadow Triad member who had come their way.

"Alright! Fall back!" Morty shouted. "My team! Gale, you and your team, too! Fall back!" As the three of them regrouped tighter together to form a wall of resistance, Morty looked up to see Volkner's Rotom speeding toward him. "Hold on! This guy must have news from the other side!" There was so much chaos, that he and the others had lost track of Volkner awhile ago and Gale hadn't seen Penny since the girls parted ways. Morty held his hand out for Rotom and the half-ghost landed. Morty flinched and his eyes widened as he felt the emotional outpouring of the small pokemon.

"Morty, what's going on?" Lance asked, not liking the paling skin of the ghost master's face.

"Are they alright?" Gale still sat atop her Sawsbuck.

"I don't... I mean, no." Morty shook his head and felt his body begin to tremble from Rotom's frantic attempt to tell him what had happened.

"What? Morty, speak!" Gale gulped and began looking around for signs of Penny and Volkner.

"Something bad has happened. Rotom's energies are telling me someone's been hurt." He was unable to pick up specifics even from direct contact, but his prowess with ghost-type pokemon gave him an extra ability to be able to sense their emotions and the causes of them far easier than pokemon of any other type. Even still, this was as close as he could get to actually being able to verbally communicate with Rotom.

"Alright, we're going. Come on—" Lance paused and stared at the pillar. Racing around toward Claire and her captors were Penny and her entire team of Eevee evolutions. From his distance, Lance swore he saw a silver glint in her hand as they ran; a knife? Where would she have gotten a weapon? "She's at the pillar. I'm going. You two catch up." He said and sped off on Dragonite. Gale and Morty exchanged looks as Morty attempted to calm the frantic Rotom.

"Tropius!" Gale waved her hand and called her pokemon over. She slid off of Sawsbuck's back and climbed up onto Tropius. "I'm following him. Sawsbuck, take Morty." She patted Tropius and pointed to Dragonite. "We're going after them, let's go!" Tropius lifted off the ground using its giant leaves as wings.

Morty growled at her impulsive action and leapt up onto Sawsbuck's back. "Fast as you can." He instructed and Sawsbuck dashed off.

〜〜〜

Steven and Falkner both were perched on top of their pokemon: Steven atop Skarmory and Falkner atop Aerodactyl. They were instructing their pokemon from the air, attempting to keep tabs on everyone that they could.

"Falkner!" Steven shouted. His pants were in tatters from Skarmory's sharp steel body segments and his legs had thin cuts along the tears in his clothes. "Look! Penny's made it to the pillar!"

Falkner looked over to the pillar and saw Penny already engaging in battle with the Shadow Triad member who had been holding his wife hostage. "Let's give her some back up!" He shouted over the sounds of the battles.

Steven nodded and pointed to the sky. "Looks like we're not alone." Zooming toward them were Lance, Dragonite, Gale and Tropius and beneath them came Morty on Sawsbuck.

"Come on!" The pair flew off to join in the fray.

〜〜〜

"Penny!" Gale shouted as she arrived. Her blonde friend was splattered with blood; what had _happened?_ Morty was right, she did look hurt.

Lance swooped down and jerked Penny up with a strong arm. In her hand was, indeed, a blood stained knife. He hoisted her up onto Dragonite's back as Steven bellowed at his Aggron, who lunged at the Bisharp the girl had been fighting. "What's going on? Are you alright?" He turned around with adept ease on Dragonite's back. "Dragonite, cover for us." Dragonite fired off a Hyper Beam at the Shadow Triad member as his response. Lance stared at Penny; he had seen a similarly sickening scene on the back of his dragon before: Penny dirty and beat up, her face covered in a film of blood, tears and dust. Penny clutched the knife handle tightly in her shaking, bloody hand. Lance looked her over; the blood was not her own, it was spattered across her face and clothes. "Talk to me. What happened?"

"I-I killed him." She stammered.

Lance's eyes widened. "You did what? Who did you kill?" To say he was shocked would have been an understatement.

"That man. The ninja. I killed him." Her voice was shivering but monotone at the same time.

Lance watched her and cast a glance at the battle on the ground; with only one Shadow Triad member left and that man who was clearly the leader of the entire Team, this battle would not last long. He turned his attention back to the blonde on his dragon. Penny had a wild look about her: she looked like a frightened, desperate pokemon, willing to strike out even at the hand that would help her. "Tell me what happened."

"He killed Volkner." Her words caught in her throat and her previous rigid posture slumped a little against Dragonite.

Lance felt like he'd been punched in the stomach; he was breathless. "I-I... he..." He shook his head. Looking at the girl before him, however, he knew better than to question such a claim. Volkner was dead. "My God..." Lance lowered his head for a moment. He listened to Penny's sobs and felt his chest tighten. "Alright. Let's put an end to this for him." He turned back toward Dragonite's head. "Let go of the knife. You won't need it anymore." His voice was deeper than usual. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Penny drop the knife from the side of her dragon mount. On the ground, Penny's entire team had joined up with the rest of the G-Men. Gale was now standing beside Tropius; Claire was on his back. The battle was now theirs to command. "Dragonite, Draco Meteor." He patted his friend's back and turned his attention to the combatants on the ground. "Guys!" He shouted at the top of his lungs. "Take cover!"

Below, Falkner heard Lance's command first and swooped closer to everyone on the ground. "We're in Lance's blast range! Get out of here!" He shouted as he and Aerodactyl made their pass. Gale hopped up onto Tropius's back and took to the sky. Morty mounted Sawsbuck once again and they took off with Penny's Eevee team speeding behind. Steven flew up after Falkner and everyone watched as Dragonite used the last of his energy to shower his powerful attack down. Meteors of various sizes slammed through the cloud cover and hammered the ground below. The Plasma members caught in the attack had not a chance, including the final Shadow Triad member and Ghetsis. The pillar was struck a few times as well and a few gaping holes littered the bottom. As the attack came to a close, the few Plasma members left marveled in awe and fear at the victorious group by the pillar. Team Plasma had finally lost.


	21. Chapter 21

_Chapter Twenty-One_

The dust settled from Lance and Dragonite's attack. If Ghetsis and the final member of the Shadow Triad hadn't been buried by the rubble and meteors, they would have been granted a miracle. The straggling members of Team Plasma that remained took the opportunity to flee. Without their leader, they were under no obligation to stay and fight these people any longer. The group in the air descended near the base of the pillar and were shortly joined by Morty, Sawsbuck and Penny's team. Everyone climbed off of their respective pokemon mounts and no one spoke for a few minutes. Falkner and Claire embraced as she sobbed on him. Penny stood surrounded by her Eevee team. Gale and Morty joined one another and she had her eyes glued to her blonde friend. Steven was the first to begin recalling his pokemon team. Lance stood beside Dragonite with a clouded expression as he watched Penny kneel among her pokemon.

"Where's Volkner?" Falkner asked, looking around the group. By now, the rest of Team Plasma was gone; they were the only people atop the mountain. All along, the battle above the clouds among whatever was soaring in the skies continued to rage on. No one knew the extent of the damage on the ground in the rest of Sinnoh.

Gale watched Penny flinch when Falkner spoke. She remembered what Morty had said when he came in contact with Rotom. "Penny?"

Lance stepped forward into the group and looked grave. "He's gone." Penny grit her teeth and tears immediately started to spill down her cheeks.

"He's what...?" Claire gawked and her eyes fell upon her friend. "Oh my God, no." She clung to Falkner and whimpered.

"Holy shit..." Gale ran her fingers through her hair. Everyone fell silent.

"His pokemon are with him right now." Penny broke the silence as she rose to her feet. "They were to take him somewhere safe." Her voice sounded strained. No one replied. Morty began to recall his pokemon and the others all slowly joined him, one-by-one. Penny was the last to do so and she apologized to each of her team as she recalled them. She had been utterly traumatized today; she hoped she hadn't caused the same for her beloved pokemon.

"What do we do now...?" Steven gulped a little, unsure of whether it was okay to break the heavy silence over the group or not.

"I think the first thing we need to do is go get Volkner." Lance said and stepped over to Penny. "Can you find his pokemon?" He put a hand on her shoulder.

Penny swallowed hard; her mind flashed with images that made her stomach churn. "I think so." She slumped under Lance's hand and turned away from the group, slowly starting to walk away from the pillar. Lance motioned to everyone to follow and they all did, silently and solemnly.

As she walked, Penny tried not to vomit. When would they ask her what had happened? When would she have to describe it? Her eyes stung with tears. Why had this happened? She felt like her own chest had been stabbed the moment his had been pierced. "I don't want to do this anymore..." She mumbled to herself as tears dripped from her chin. She continued ahead of the group; everyone was giving her space but she could hear Lance's footsteps close behind her. As she made her way to where she vaguely remembered battling for Volkner, her head began to throb. With each step she took, the pain in her head grew. Finally, she stopped walking and gripped the sides of her head.

"You alright?" Lance's voice was soft and gentle.

Penny shook her head and clenched her eyes shut. "N-No, my head..." She gasped a little. "It hurts." She felt Lance grab her shoulders and realized he was speaking to her but his voice began to fade from her ears. She opened her eyes and her vision also began to cloud over before all she could see was darkness.

_You are in pain._

A voice filled her head and eased the pain. She blinked rapidly; she could still see nothing.

_I can bring him back._

Penny felt her heart stumble over itself as it began a sprinting pace in her chest. What was happening? "You can... Volkner?! Are you saying you can bring Volkner back to me?!" She shouted.

_You must summon me. I will restore his life._

Penny's speeding heart skipped a beat; suddenly she knew exactly what was happening. She blinked slowly, still seeing nothing but inky blackness all around her. "If we summon you, you'll bring him back to life?"

_I will. My sacrifice is allowed the one overwhelming desire within their heart._

Penny was silent for a moment. So many truths were revealed in the response she received. If the girls summoned _Arceus_, it would bring Volkner back to life. If the girls summoned Arceus, she would die. She had been chosen.

_I can save them. I brought you to this world. I can stop the battle between Dialga, Palkia and Giratina._

Penny's brows furrowed. "Is that who is fighting and causing all of this destruction across Sinnoh?"

_It is._

Silence. Penny knew Arceus was waiting for her reply. She felt a calmness wash over her. She was the one who always stressed the importance of the lives of the world against the single life of the sacrifice. "I'll do it."

"Penny!" Lance shook her by the shoulders and everyone stood around her. Penny slowly blinked her eyes as the worried faces of her friends came hazily back into view, as did their frantic voices. "My God, what the hell happened?" Lance frowned deeply as Penny looked around.

"You just froze up like a statue." Claire said, clinging to Falkner's arm.

Penny stared at Claire for a minute and then located Gale. "We're summoning Arceus." Her voice was as dry as a desert.

"You're what?!" Lance gawked.

"Wait, hold on a minute, where did this come from?" Steven shook his head.

"I spoke with Arceus. I know how to save Volkner." She stood wide-eyed and took a step back from Lance, removing his hands from her body.

"You..." The dragon master frowned heavily and shook his head at her. "Penny, Volkner is _gone_, you can't save him now."

Penny glared darkly at him. "I will _save_ him." Her tone dripped with poison. She turned her attention to the girls. "Don't worry. Arceus has a plan."

"Arceus wants to kill one of you." Morty interjected. He'd seen it in his vision, he didn't understand what Penny was rambling about.

"And what do you mean you talked to him, Penny?" Gale arched a brow, worried for Penny's mental well-being. She _had_ just lost the love of her life on the battlefield. Perhaps she was going through extreme post-traumatic stress.

"I _spoke_ to Arceus. Arceus was in my head." She looked around her group, suddenly feeling frantic. "Did all of you forget what's happening at the base of this mountain? What could engulf all of Sinnoh?" She grit her teeth; they _had_ to believe her.

"Are you telling me that Arceus astrally projected its consciousness into your brain just now?" Morty gawked at her and the rest of the group gawked at _him._

"If that's how it got into my head, then sure. I couldn't see anything, but I could talk to it just fine." Penny glanced at the pokeball belts everyone wore. "We have to do this sooner than later." The group was silent as they all internally debated what had just happened.

Finally, Gale stepped away from Morty and nodded to Penny. "Alright."

"Gale?!" Morty yelped.

"Morty, we've got to." She turned toward Claire, who stared wide-eyed at her two friends. "Come on." Falkner made to put his arm around his wife, but Claire slowly pushed away from him. She stepped over to Penny and took her friend's bloodstained hand tightly in hers.

"We need pokemon." Penny said. "We need all the types represented, right? I've got the lyrics to the song memorized, do you, Claire?" She glanced at her friend.

Claire nodded. "Yeah, I've practiced." She looked apologetically over at Falkner; he had no idea she'd invested her time into learning the ceremonial song.

"Well I know how to play the song on the flute." Gale said.

Penny turned toward Lance. "I'm going to leave Volkner in your care. Find Jolteon and Electivire. They took care of him for me." She glanced at his pokeball belt. "And I need some dragons."

Lance gaped at her, unable to find words to reply to her with. Of course he'd given her over to Volkner relatively easily before, but the fact remained that he still loved her. He couldn't see himself sending her off with his pokemon with every possibility to die. "Penny I..." He gulped a little.

"Wait a minute." Claire tugged Penny's hand. "Ghetsis had this suitcase and it had a bunch of pokeballs in it. I _know_ they'd prepared everything for the ceremony. It's got to be over by the pillar. That's our pokemon for the ceremony." The group was silent for another minute.

"Alright, let's go find them." Penny began to walk back toward the pillar with Claire in tow. Gale followed suit and after a minute, the guys all trailed them.

Everyone began moving rocks and stones around, lifting debris from Dragonite's Draco Meteor. The suitcase was here _somewhere_.

"Hey! Look at this, is this it?" Gale asked as Steven and Lance pushed a large piece of the pillar that had fallen down out of her way. She hopped off a rock and tugged at the protruding handle she saw for a minute before it flew free and she fell backward into Morty.

"That's it!" Claire nodded and hurried over.

Gale opened the suitcase and counted the pokeballs. "Well there's a lot of pokeballs in here, and check this out." She lifted a strange looking device out; it looked like it was made out of a blueish seashell sort of substance and resembled a conch-styled ocarina. "This is my flute."

"Let's check and see if these pokemon are who we need." Penny said and picked up a few pokeballs. The girls followed suit and they released all of the suitcase pokemon. The men stood back, all internally debating whether or not to let the girls go through with this. As they rifled through the pokeballs, it was discovered that all of Claire's pokemon were also in the briefcase along with the ceremonial ones.

"Okay, last one." Claire said and released the final pokemon from its pokeball. Standing before the group were pokemon representing all of the required types: Rattata, Machop, Tailow, Gulpin, Sandshrew, Roggenrola, Wurmple, Shuppet, Klink, Growlithe, Krabby, Petilil, Voltorb, Spoink, Vanilite, Axew and Purrloin. Penny and Gale assessed the pokemon for a moment.

"That's it. Alright, load them up. Let's get this going." Penny had taken charge of the situation. The girls began recalling their ceremony pokemon and put the pokeballs back in the briefcase along with Gale's Azure Flute.

"Are you guys serious? You're really going to do this? One of you is probably going to die." Steven shook his head as Penny crawled over rubble toward the largest gaping hole in the side of the pillar.

"They won't die, I won't let them." She called. "It's under control, Arceus said so."

"Penny, what are you saying, what did Arceus tell you?" Lance frowned as the two other girls began to follow the blonde.

"Lance, go get Volkner." She hopped off a rock and landed on the dark inside of the pillar. Claire and Gale joined her. "I've left him in your care right now. Don't make him stay out there alone." She stared at Lance on the other side of the rubble heap and a tear traced her dirty cheek.

Lance growled a little at her and looked away. "Do not _dare_ die. I'll come back." He headed off without another word.

Penny nodded a little and looked at the other three men. "Go help him. If you guys come into the pillar it will probably mess with the ceremony." Falkner, Morty and Steven exchanged looks and looked back at the girls.

"I love you." Falkner stared at his wife.

"I love you, too." She nodded.

"You have to teach me how to cook." Morty said, feebly.

Gale chuckled lightly and nodded, knowingly. "I will."

"Let's go." Penny urged the girls and headed further into the dark pillar. Steven watched them disappear into the shadows and looked at the other two men. They stood silently before they headed off in the direction Lance had gone in.

〜〜〜

"Well how are we supposed to get to the top of this crazy place?" Gale frowned.

"I can't even see my hand in front of my face." Claire sighed.

"Wait. You have a Charizard. Find his pokeball. We'll use his tail as a light source." Penny said. "Gale, you've got the briefcase, right?"

"Yeah."

The girls released various pokemon before finally Charizard appeared before them, illuminating the vast lower room they were in. They recalled all of the other pokemon first and then they all surveyed their surroundings. The room seemed to have no actual roof but on the sides of the cylindrical walls, wrapping up as far as the light from Charizard's flame tail extended, were stone stairs.

"Huh. I guess we'd better start walking." Gale looked between her companions.

"Yep. Let's go." Penny nodded and started up the stairs, followed by Gale, Claire and Charizard.

〜〜〜

After three resting breaks and walking until their legs burned, the girls reached the top of the staircase. The temperature had dropped drastically during their ascension and chattering teeth were audible now that they had reached the end of their climb. Two very old wooden doors sealed the exit to the roof and Penny glanced back at her friends and Charizard. They were all familiar with the great doors from Morty's visions.

"No turning back now." Penny placed her hands on the cold metal door handles.

"Too bad there's not an easier way to get _down_ even if we wanted to turn back." Gale smirked. "I'm not going to just go home after that walk." Behind her, Claire chuckled and shook her head. Somehow, a calm had befallen all three girls, despite the task ahead.

"Alright, then." Penny pushed upward on the doors with all of her strength and finally, they eased open. A burst of wind pushed through the doorway and whipped around the occupants of the staircase. It was bright at the top of the pillar and the girls slowly made their way outside. Claire recalled Charizard back into his pokeball and shrunk it, stuffing it into her pocket. The girls were silent, completely in awe at where they stood. They made their way further out onto the perfectly flat surface of the giant pillar. Up this high, the sky was blue and despite the cold, in the distance, all of Sinnoh was spread before them and beyond that lay the ocean. The girls made their way to the edge of the pillar, each getting on her hands and knees for support and leaned over to gaze down.

"Oh my god!" Claire gasped. Below them were the heavy clouds and zipping around, creating the flashes of blue and pink were two pokemon. Every now and then, a third pokemon would surface from within the cloud cover like a giant leviathan out of the sea.

"That's what we heard down there all this time?" Gale marveled at the sight. The pokemon had to have been huge to still appear large from the height advantage the girls had over the battle.

"Dialga, Palkia and Giratina." Penny watched the pokemon with a frown on her face.

"Are you serious?!" Gale shook her head and sat back away from the edge. "This is insane."

"Guys..." Claire whimpered and crawled away from the edge of the pillar. The girls turned toward her, neither particularly shocked by the display of emotion; after all, they were about to conduct a potentially dangerous ceremony.

"Hey, no tears. It's all going to work out, remember?" Penny smiled reassuringly, pushed herself up onto her feet and took a few steps back from the edge to be safe.

"No, I..." Claire shook her head and put her face in her hands.

"Claire, what's wrong?" Gale tilted her head to the side and glanced up at Penny.

"It's my fault." Claire cried. "None of this would have happened if I wouldn't have summoned them." The other two girls stared at Claire.

"What do you mean?" Penny's brows knit.

"I'm so sorry!" Claire shook her head again. "I didn't think it would be like _this._" She looked at the other girls with her tear-streaked face.

"Wait, wait, wait." Gale sat cross-legged on the cold stone surface of the pillar. "Are you saying _you _summoned Dialga, Palkia and Giratina? How?"

Claire sniffed a few times and wiped her face; the cold air was too much with her wet cheeks. "Ghetsis, the Team Plasma leader, forced me to sing a summoning song. He had all of my pokemon there and he was going to electrocute them!" She choked on some tears. "I didn't know what to do." Gale and Penny exchanged glances and were silent for a moment.

"You did what you had to at the moment, Claire." Penny said and walked away slowly.

Claire whimpered a little and watched the blonde. "I'm sorry, Penny, I didn't mean for anybody to—"

"It's okay. We're going to fix it." Penny glanced back at her friends. "Let's get this show on the road, girls."

"I can second that motion. It's _cold_ up here. Let's do this and get down off this pillar." Gale forced a smile, despite the circumstances.

The girls made their way to the center of the pillar and hovered around the briefcase as Gale popped it open. They began releasing the ceremonial pokemon, all of whom gathered close to the girls; their prowess with befriending pokemon was not lost on this group, regardless of the fact that they had been captured by Team Plasma.

"Alright, now what? What do these guys do?" Gale arched a brow and looked around at the pokemon.

"Good question." Penny folded her arms and analyzed the group. Claire and Penny surveyed the situation as Gale pulled the Azure Flute from the briefcase and snapped it shut.

"Hey, look at this." Claire kneeled beside the Purrloin at her feet and traced her finger on a weathered pattern on the stone floor. "There were designs here—well, there still are. They've just kind of eroded away. But look, this looks like an eye, doesn't it?" As she spoke, Gale and Penny wandered over to see.

"An eye..." Gale frowned as she stared at it. "Hang on a minute." She stepped over and gently moved Sandshrew to the side. "I knew it. Check this one out, it's a leaf." She looked over at the girls. "These are type symbols."

"Well that makes things a lot more organized." Penny nodded.

"Let's help them out." Claire waved Spoink over to the eye symbol. "Here, you stay on this symbol right here." She cooed to the little psychic pokemon as Penny and Gale began placing other pokemon on other symbols that spanned all around the circular pillar roof.

After a few minutes, everyone had been placed and the girls reconvened in the center of the pokemon circle. The trio looked at each other; only one knew the outcome of the ceremony and she was not about to tell.

"Okay, well here we are." Gale looked down at the flute in her hands.

"Do we just... start?" Claire bit her lip and looked between the other two girls.

"I guess so." Penny shrugged. "That's something I don't know much about. The sheet music had the accompaniment starting and then we came in, though. I do remember that much."

"Yeah, you guys come in a few measures after I start." Gale nodded and took a deep breath. "Are we ready?" Claire cleared her throat as she finally nodded.

"Let's go." Penny nodded and closed her eyes with a heavy sigh. This was it. It was time.

〜〜〜

Gale placed the flute to her lips. It was different from the standard pokeflute she was used to, but the general mechanics were similar enough. She took a breath and began to play. Claire slowly took Penny's hand and laced their fingers together. Penny gave her friend a tiny, reassuring smile and a nod. They watched Gale as they silently counted the music measures in their heads. Gale made eye contact with the girls and they opened their mouths to sing; the ceremony had begun in earnest. The girls sang the song that was interspersed with the ancient pokemon language and the foreign language that stemmed from their original world. Gale focused, making sure she did not miss a note as Claire and Penny sang, equally focused on their melody and lyrics. Claire tightened her hand around Penny's and pointed to the circle of pokemon around the girls; beneath each pokemon, the symbols on the floor had begun to emit faint light that filled the shallow carvings. The light had not yet reached each symbol, but was connected by tiny dots of light that trailed between each pokemon.

In the middle of the song, Penny's eyes widened. A sudden pain in her head almost made her stumble over her words, but she continued. Gale and Claire focused their attention on their friend, each with equally wide eyes. The lights beneath the pokemon expanded and the song continued. Penny gripped Claire's hand tightly and her singing voice trembled as she forced herself to continue: the pain was growing along with the worry from her friends. Despite all of the reassurance Penny had given, Gale and Claire were not ignorant to the fact that the ceremony was supposed to require some sort of sacrifice. Penny had begun to sweat and her skin had paled considerably, but her eyes held a fire that forced Gale and Claire not to stop the song. As the song finally came to a close, the glowing from beneath the pokemon had brightened and now formed a pillar of light that extended up past the physical pillar of stone. The girls stopped singing and Gale played the final notes on the flute. The song was over. Penny collapsed to her knees. Gale and Claire were immediately at her side as Penny gripped her head.

"What's going on?! You said it was going to be okay!" Claire put her hand on Penny's shoulder.

"You knew, didn't you?" Gale frowned and put her own hand on the blonde's opposite shoulder.

Penny looked between her friends and smiled apologetically. "I'm sorry." Her head throbbed. She thought it might actually explode.

"Why...?" Claire's eyes filled with tears.

"Hey, don't cry." Penny spoke through clenched teeth. Even she was shocked at how calm she felt despite the pain. "I had to do this. I wanted to. I had a choice."

"And you took it? What's worth this, Penny?" Gale fought her own tears as she stared at her friend and gripped her shoulder.

"Volkner." Penny's vision was becoming blurry and the pain had begun to couple with severe dizziness. "I need you to tell him something for me." Claire whimpered and bowed her head, leaning it against Penny's shoulder.

"Alright." Gale grit her teeth.

"Tell him he's not allowed to be sad. I picked his life over mine and now he has to live it no matter what." She put a smile on for her friends, who she could barely see now; there was an ever-widening black rim around her vision.

"Okay." Was all Gale could manage to say.

"Thanks, guys." Penny closed her eyes for a moment. Gale and Claire sat silently and stared at her, neither girl able to believe Penny had held this a secret the entire trip up the pillar.

"Penny!" Claire screeched. Penny opened her eyes; she could no longer see clearly.

"What's going on?!" Gale's voice had become distant. Claire groped to hold on to Penny. The blonde's body had begun to glow akin to the pillar of light that surrounded them. Within an instant, her entire being erupted into a glittering gold cloud of sparkles and she disappeared. Claire screamed and Gale fell backward in shock. The girls sat shivering in the middle of the pillar, stunned into silence. Above them, a light began to shine, bright enough to catch their attention. The pair craned their necks and looked up. Hovering in mid-air were glittering, golden sparkles of light.

"Penny?" Claire whimpered. Gale shook her head, unable to ascertain that anything around her was _really_ happening. The light above began to take shape; it was _not_ Penny, it was much larger than the girl. Slowly, both the light emitted from the silhouette above and that of the pillar of light began to subside. Gale and Claire stared in awe at the white and golden being hovering above them: Arceus.


	22. Chapter 22

_Chapter Twenty-Two_

"Is that Electivire?" Steven asked, pointing ahead. The men had scoured the peak of the mountain with no luck in finding either Volkner's body or any of his pokemon. They expanded their search to the area just around the peak when finally, a sign of life had been noted.

"It's got to be." Morty mused. The entire time, he had kept his eyes peeled for any sign of Volkner's Rotom, who had disappeared during the chaotic battle to free Claire.

"Hey!" Lance shouted and waved at the pokemon. Electivire turned and spotted the quartet. He raised his large arm and waved back. "Yeah, it's them. Let's go." Lance picked up his pace and the others fell into step with him. They crossed the space between quickly and came up on the group of pokemon, gathered around their trainer.

"God... Volkner." Falkner shook his head, feeling his chest tighten. The men had all been close for years and the thought that one of them was gone forever was difficult to swallow.

"What?"

The quartet stopped immediately and exchanged glances. That voice was unmistakable.

Lance shoved Electivire out of the way and in the middle of a circle formed by his team sat Volkner with Jolteon in his lap. "V-Volkner?!" He couldn't help but shout. "But she said..."

"You were _dead_." Steven gawked as he helped Lance finish his own thought.

"Yeah. I know. At least I think I was." Volkner _did_ look a little worse-for-wear, but he was _certainly_ not dead.

"What do you mean, 'you think you were dead'?" Morty shook his head; even with all of his abilities to read auras and visions, this completely evaded his comprehension.

"I mean I'm pretty sure I _died_, man." Volkner ran a hand through his hair. "I was stabbed by that ninja asshole." He pulled his shirt up to show his chest to his friends; it was devoid of any wounds, despite all of the blood that stained his clothes. "I have no idea what happened after that. Maybe I was just unconscious, but I didn't know you dreamed when you were unconscious. I had this dream that I could see Penny and she _killed_ that son of a bitch ninja. The next thing I knew, I heard this weird voice, it wasn't any of you, but it said I was 'coming back' or something and then I woke up over here with my team. Wait, where is she? Where's Penny?" He looked around. "Are she and Gale with Claire? Did we win?" No one answered him. Instead, they all looked between one another.

"Volkner." Lance's voice was heavy. Volkner looked up at Lance, who was standing apart from the rest of the group. "She went into the pillar. They went to summon Arceus."

"What?!" Volkner shouted and slowly stood to his feet. He was alive, but he was a little weak. Steven hurried over to steady the blond man. Volkner put his arm around Steven's shoulders and glared at the group. "You let them summon that thing?! Well where are they now? Are they _alright?"_ His anger was almost tangible.

"We don't know. Penny told us to come find you." Falkner's hands were in fists. "She was convinced you were dead." No one knew what was happening.

"Well we're going to find them." Volkner began pulling pokeballs from his belt, recalling his team as quickly as he could.

"You're not well enough to walk that far by yourself, Volkner." Lance frowned.

"You think I'm going to sit here and _wait?!"_ Volkner shouted.

Lance shot Volkner enough of a glare to silence even the raging mouth of the short-tempered gym leader. "I never said that. Steven, can we borrow Metagross?"

Steven blinked a few times as he realized Lance's plan and released his steel psychic immediately. "Volkner, ride on top of him. That way you don't have to exert yourself." Volkner glared at Lance for a minute before he crawled on top of the floating Metagross without a word.

"Alright. Let's go back to the pillar." Lance turned from the group and headed back in the direction of the mountain peak.

The men made their way to the rubble near the bottom of the pillar after a few minutes' walk. Volkner surveyed the area silently; all of this destruction must have happened when he was incapacitated.

"Here's where they went in. They aren't back yet, so let's wait here." Morty said. "They had a point: we aren't part of the ceremony so if we were to go inside, we might mess everything up. It might even put someone in danger somehow."

"I hate waiting." Volkner growled.

"You're going to wait anyway." Lance's temper was uncharacteristically short. He should be thrilled that his friend was actually _alive_, but he would celebrate later; right now, he was worried about the girls.

〜〜〜

An explosion overhead after a half hour of waiting caught the attention of the five men at the base of the pillar. All of them prepared to release their pokemon just in case, tired as they knew their teams were. A bright flash of white light filled the cloud cover above and all at once, a crushing wind blew the clouds away.

"What's that?" Lance shouted.

"There's three—wait no, four!" Falkner clutched Pidgeot's pokeball.

"Look at that! They're all losing to that one over there, the white one." Morty marveled as three pokemon ganged up on the solitary one, but it appeared as though their attacks merely glanced off.

"That's... Arceus." Steven marveled. He had done the most amount of searching out of everyone and had stared at countless hieroglyphics depicting the original pokemon. That white pokemon was Arceus.

"My God..." Falkner was breathless as he watched.

"That's the Sinnoh Creation Trio." Volkner frowned. "What are they doing here?"

"They must be the ones who had been fighting above the clouds earlier." Morty folded his arms, but was still highly on guard. They watched the pokemon battle until a bright blue light filled the sky and suddenly, Dialga was gone.

"Where did it go?" Steven searched the sky, but came up dry; Dialga was nowhere to be found.

"Arceus is driving them back." Lance watched as Arceus targeted Palkia next. The sky lit up a bright pink and when the light faded, only Giratina and Arceus remained.

"Where is it sending them?" Falkner shook his head and knit his brows together.

"They live in alternate dimensions... it must be sending them back." Volkner had lived in Sinnoh his entire life and the region was steeped in pokemon legend. He had been told those tales from childhood. The group on the ground watched Arceus and Giratina stand off against one another. Giratina slithered its huge body in the air for a few minutes before it opened its own rift in space. It watched Arceus a little longer before it left; without the threat from Dialga and Palkia, Giratina had no reason to quarrel anymore. Arceus was left alone in the vast sky and turned its attention briefly to the bottom of the pillar before it sped off through the sky, away from the mountain.

"Where is it going?" Morty frowned, still in amazement at what they had all just witnessed.

"Maybe it's going to fix what the other pokemon caused around Sinnoh." Steven looked between his group.

"So, does this mean it's all over?" Falkner's hand fell away from his pokeball and he glanced back at the entrance to the pillar.

"I... guess so." Steven suddenly sounded exhausted.

"So they really did it." Morty sat hard on the ground. "They summoned Arceus."

"Yeah." Lance muttered and joined him on the ground. After a few minutes, they all sat in a circle together on the ground and waited for the girls to emerge from the base of the pillar.

〜〜〜

No one knew how much time had passed since Arceus disappeared, but they all knew that a pervasive restlessness had begun to spread throughout the group. Falkner sat chucking tiny rocks off into the direction Arceus had disappeared and beside him sat Morty, who quietly watched his friend's ministrations with the pebbles. Steven lay on his back, staring at the now-blue sky. Lance and Volkner sat together, resting back to back. None of them spoke; there was nothing left to say until the girls came back.

A falling rock immediately drew the attention of the five men to the hole in the pillar. A pale hand emerged from the darkness and gripped the edge of the stone wall as Claire pulled herself out of the darkness and up onto some of the crumbled stones that littered the outside of the hole.

"Claire!" Falkner shouted and was on his feet in an instant, hurrying over to help her. The others followed quickly as Gale appeared, holding the briefcase.

"You're alright!" Morty grabbed her up in his arms and squeezed her tightly. Gale dropped the briefcase and clung to him. They finally released one another and all crawled off of the rubble, landing in front of Steven, Lance and Volkner.

"Oh my God." Claire gawked as she stared at Volkner. "You're alive." She hiccuped and started crying again.

"It actually happened." Gale shook her head, leaning heavily against Morty.

Volkner looked between the girls and leaned around them, peering toward the dark hole in the pillar. "Where is Penny?" His voice almost did not sound like his own. Gale and Claire did not speak.

"Ladies, where is she?" Lance stepped up and frowned heavily. "Her talk with Arceus said that everyone would be alright."

Gale grit her teeth and kicked a rock as hard as she could. "Yeah that's what she said." She looked over at Volkner and felt her breath hitch in her throat. "She said... She said you have to live now no matter what." The group fell silent. "She said that it was her life for yours."

"I..." Volkner's mouth fell open and he felt a pain in his chest, one just as prominent as the stab wound he _knew_ he had before.

"No. She can't be. She's not." Lance growled. Claire whimpered and hid herself on her husband.

"She..." Volkner could not properly articulate himself. His eyes were wide and his gaze fell to the ground as he collapsed to his knees. He began to shake his head and drug his fingers across the rocky mountain surface to form fists. Beside him, Lance's head fell back and he stared at the sky, expressionless. He stood perfectly still and fought the fiery burning he felt forming in his eyes. He could not protect her; she was gone.

〜〜〜

_"Penny?"_ A voice: a woman's voice. It sounded so far away. _"Penny!"_ The voice was calling her. She felt a heavy, groggy weight all over her body. She took a calculated breath and analyzed the fact that she _could_ breathe. "Penny, answer me!" Her eyes snapped open and she gasped violently. She panted for air and looked around, her gaze focusing on the face that matched the voice: her mother. Penny was home.


	23. Chapter 23

_Chapter Twenty-Three_

Three years had passed. The chaos from the warring Creation Trio had been repaired and all was as it should have been. Morty sat in the cab on his way to the restaurant. Up until now, the world around him felt quiet. He spent his days battling gym challengers and messaging Volkner. His life was grey now that he was alone.

A year ago, Gale and Claire had both fallen into what they could only describe as the same astral projection Penny had experienced the day they summoned Arceus. What Arceus had informed them consisted of only a single statement: the time to join Penny would be soon. Initially, no one understood what that last sentiment meant; was Arceus planning on taking the lives of Gale and Claire? To what end would that benefit the deity-like pokemon? It was not until Morty's most important vision that anyone understood the significance of Arceus's riddles: Penny was _alive_.

The exchange of life to manifest Arceus in the pokemon world meant that it required a living human being from another world, another plane of existence. That human had to be one that had lived in the pokemon world for a specific amount of time, enough to have engrained their own energies in the pokemon world's dimension. Arceus needed that energy in order to appear, but with Arceus's utilization of the human's life energy, the human would immediately be sent back to their original plane of existence, their own world. It had taken Morty multiple weeks and many visions to piece all of this information together. While this discovery had been filled with overjoying news that Penny was not dead, it was also laced with a layer of sorrow: she was now unattainable by anyone in the pokemon world. When this news reached the rest of the group, the weight of Gale and Claire's communication with Arceus finally fell: they were going home.

After the girls departed for their own world, Falkner had fallen into a desperate depression that had taken the efforts of everyone to pull him out; everyone except Volkner. Volkner, upon hearing that the love of his life was alive somewhere out there in the reaches of space and time, set immediately to work. He renounced his title as the Sunyshore gym leader and began traveling all across the world. He had but one goal: to learn how to transport himself to his beloved. His tunnel vision had been so severe that he had not even learned of Gale and Claire's departures until months afterward. Three years had passed, but three years had not been wasted: Volkner had found a way.

"It's strange for _you_ to call us into a meeting." Steven crossed his legs and sipped at his coffee as he looked across the round dinner table at the blond man who had called the meeting of his closest friends.

"I had to see you guys one more time before I leave." Volkner said. He tossed a huge stack of research papers onto the table.

"What? Where are you going this time?" Falkner picked up a few pieces of paper and rifled through them.

"_Their_ world." Volkner was almost like a child at an amusement park the way his smile sparkled in the dim light of the restaurant.

"What?" Lance frowned and leaned over Falkner's shoulder. "What is all this?"

"We were all too busy trying to figure out _why_ they were here that we never bothered to find a way to get them home. But I found it. This is the only thing that can get me to her." Volkner took a sip of his wine.

"Jirachi the wish pokemon?" Falkner read. "This will really work?" The group began to search through the papers Volkner had brought.

The electric trainer reclined in his seat. "If I had been any later, there would have been no way at all. Jirachi only wakes for a week every thousand years. If you write your deepest wish down and secure it to Jirachi's head, when it wakes up, it will grant your wish. If it's already awake, it will grant your desire on its own."

"I can't believe this." Steven marveled at the accomplishment Volkner had achieved. It had taken a lot of time and had cost Volkner his gym title, his participation in the G-Men and countless months of solitude in order to achieve this discovery.

"Well is there a location?" Falkner sounded frantic. "If you're going, then I'm going too. I _need_ my wife." The table fell silent for a moment.

Volkner nodded and sipped his wine again. "I have everything I need. I'm setting out in two days. If you're coming, then you'd better settle anything you have to settle in this world before then. I don't think there's a way to come back after we leave."

"Alright. I'll get things handled and then I'll come to you. I'll be in touch." Falkner rose from his seat; he had no time for dinner now.

"Okay." Volkner and the rest of the group watched Falkner speed-walk out of the restaurant.

"What a development." Morty mused. "To think, we would be going to their world after all this time we spent acclimating them to ours."

"What?" Steven arched a brow as he watched the ghost master.

"You think they're going to see the girls without me?" Morty chuckled.

Steven shook his head. "Morty, this isn't a day-trip. This is for _good._"

"She still has to teach me how to cook." Morty smiled; he knew exactly what he was doing.

"Things will be awfully quiet without you around, Volkner." Lance had been quiet for some time.

Volkner looked over at his friend. "You aren't coming, are you?"

Lance shook his head and his eyes stayed glued to a spot on the table in front of him. "I don't know what this place would do without me."

"You don't think she wants to see you?" Volkner did not want to compete with Lance for Penny's love, but he knew that she surely missed them both.

"It would make me happy to know that she wanted to see me. But you and Penny both know what kind of man I am. I'm duty-bound to protect the people of _this_ world. You go protect Penny in _her_ world." As he spoke, the dragon master looked over at Volkner, his eyes sparkling in the low light.

Volkner shook his head with a small smirk. "Always have to play the hero, Lance."

Lance grinned a little. "Yeah."

〜〜〜

Two days later, Volkner, Morty and Falkner found themselves in a cave in Hoenn. They had said their goodbyes and even given their pokemon to proper homes: Volkner had entrusted his pokemon to Elesa of Nimbasa City, Morty's pokemon went to Fantina in Hearthome City and Falkner's pokemon had been given to Winona in Fortree City. They had also arranged for homes for Penny's pokemon, along with Gale's and Claire's teams. Cynthia had graciously taken all of Penny's pokemon as a tribute to how much she valued the short friendship she had with the trainer. Gale's pokemon went to live with Brock in Pewter City and Erika of Celadon took on Claire's pokemon, regardless of the fact that they were not grass-types.

"Well, you guys ready? That blue light up ahead has got to be our man." Volkner said as they made their way down a tunnel.

"Ready as I'll ever be." Morty chuckled.

"Yeah, I second that." Falkner smiled ear to ear at the prospect of seeing his wife. The trio followed the pathway and entered a large cavern that emitted a strange blue aura from the very walls of the room. On a small rock pedestal in the middle of the room sat a tiny glowing pokemon with a star-shaped head.

"Jirachi...?" Volkner stepped further into the room and slowly approached the pokemon. Two eyes opened and the little pokemon floated up off the rock and over toward Volkner. Jirachi tilted its head this way and that, hovering around Volkner's head as its ribbon-like appendages on its back shimmered behind it. It moved over to Falkner and Morty and giggled excitedly.

"We'd like for you to take us somewhere, if you can." Falkner said, looking up at Jirachi. He rifled through his pocket and pulled out a photograph from his honeymoon with Claire in Kanto. "I want to go where this girl is." He watched Jirachi stare at the photo and it smiled brightly; its smile literally caused it to glow a little brighter.

"Can you take us all to that world, Jirachi?" Morty smiled pleasantly at the chipper tiny pokemon. Jirachi thought for a moment before it hopped around in the air, happily giggling.

"I take it that's a yes?" Volkner's heart was racing. This was his only chance; it _had_ to work. Jirachi hovered above the three men and held its small arms in the air. Slowly, on its stomach, a third eye opened and the pokemon began to glow even brighter. As Jirachi emitted light, Volkner, Falkner and Morty began to glow as well.

"Is this working?!" Falkner gasped.

"One way to know." Volkner looked over at his friends.

"See you guys on the other side." Morty grinned, receiving two similar ones in return. The trio suddenly burst into clouds of glittering, golden light and disappeared, leaving Jirachi in the cave with a big smile across its glowing face.


	24. Epilogue

_Epilogue_

Penny sighed as she sat at her kitchen table, flipping through the pages of a magazine. She usually had no interest in magazines, but as of late, she had no interest in much of anything. Once Gale and Claire had returned to their world, the girls spent a portion of every single day discussing the events of their lives in the pokemon world and how much they missed everyone there. She yawned a little and shuffled over to the counter to pour herself another cup of coffee when she heard a knock at her door. She furrowed her brows. "Mail's late today. I thought that package from Gale would have been here this morning." She said to herself, glancing over at her cat that slept in one of her empty kitchen chairs and walked to the door. She unlocked it and opened it, smiling and waiting to be handed the signature pad to sign for her package.

"Honey, I'm home." That midnight velvet voice graced her ears and Penny's eyes widened, immediately filling with tears as she stared into the very crystal blue eyes she missed every second of every day.

She gasped and leapt into those familiar strong arms. "Is this real?" She whimpered into his shoulder.

Volkner chuckled as he squeezed her tightly against his chest. "As real as it gets."

"Thank God." She looked up at him and smiled, despite the tears that spilled down her cheeks.

He kissed her forehead, her cheeks and finally her lips. He released her after a minute and wiped her cheeks dry. "Hey... Aren't you going to invite me in?" He grinned boyishly at her.

Penny stared at him for a minute before she burst into gleeful laughter. "Would you like some coffee?"

Volkner leaned down to kiss her again. "I'd love some."


End file.
